


Seadwellers

by L_Michelakos



Series: The People Under The Water [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Finished, Gay, M/M, MerMay, Merstuck, it technically wouldn’t be mermay anymore lol, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-05-08 01:02:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 25
Words: 42,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14683224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Michelakos/pseuds/L_Michelakos
Summary: Jake English just finished his third year of high school, and when a particular day of his Nanna wanting him to go out he goes out to Plum Beach, an abandoned beach when he sees a weird orange thing in the water, and with more investigation it looks like that giant goldfish was actually a mermaid- I’m sorry, merMAN.





	1. The End

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Wait...Humans Need Air, Right? (Merstuck! DirkJake fanfiction)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421770) by [Closeted_Calliope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Closeted_Calliope/pseuds/Closeted_Calliope). 



> I would like to give credit where credit is very much due. I probably would've never thought about writing this fanfic if not for Closeted_Calliope’s story Wait, Humans Need Air, Right? I really, really liked the story, and it made me want to do my own version of a merstuck fanfic. Because mermaids. And Dirkjake. And Davejade. Legit my favorite ships and mystical creatures in one book. Seriously, thank you Calliope ^^ a lot of your ideas inspired me, and actually lead me to Ikimaru’s merstuck art. Speaking of which... I would also like to thank Ikimaru, with her Merstuck AU, the amazing art (I totally don't have the Mermaid Sollux art saved as my screensaver on my iPad) that made me think up of newer concepts for this story. I hope someone likes it, and yeah ^^

“You almost ready with the potion?” Said the blonde headed merman, placing some supplies on the desk.

 

“Almost,” Said the cecealia, her eyes on several potions and mixing specific ones

 

Then, a loud banging could be heard outside the door.

 

“Witch, open the door!”

 

“Quick, hide in there!” The cecealia said, pointing to the closet.

 

The merman swam into it and closed the door behind him as the cecealia went to answer the door.

 

“Where are the potions!?”

 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

“Don’t act stupid, there are reports of you sneaking around the black market and potions room getting supplies for human transformation potions!”

 

There was then a few noises, bumps and scruffles before something was grabbed.

 

“Here we go, let’s see what the Condesce has to say to you!”

 

“Let go of me!”

 

Soon enough, a slammed door could be heard, and what was left was eerie silence.

 

The merman then quickly swam out of the house, close to the surface.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake got into his car as he sighed, putting his forehead against the wheel as he heard the cheers of his schoolmates.

 

Jake English, an English fellow funny enough, was a seventeen, nearly eighteen, year old kid who just finished his 3rd year of high school. He had black hair that stayed up high, a dark tan and green eyes with glasses.

 

And he was exhausted.

 

He usually wore a t-shirt, green jacket with khaki pants, and wore a thick belt, but it was so hot he wore tank tops, khaki knee shorts, and no belt.

 

"Thank God I'm out," He said as he took another breath and lifted his head, putting in the keys and starting the engine.

 

Before he stepped on the gas pedal a series rapid knocks came from his window, whipping his head quickly.

 

_Oh, it's just Lily._

 

Lily Monroe was one of the few friends he has, he only started to talk to her more often this year, and was subjected to driving her home. She had shoulder length brown hair, slightly tan skin and black eyes.

 

"English! Care to help a gal out?"

 

"'Course," He said.

 

Lily wore a pink crop top, white shorts, and a cap to cover her eyes from the blistering sun.

 

She quickly walked around the car to the other side, taking the first seat and buckling her seatbelt, throwing her backpack to the back.

 

"Thanks, English,"

 

"It's no problem at all," He said as he began driving out of the parking lot.

 

"So, what are you going to do for the summer?"

 

"I have no clue, Lily,"

 

"Dude, you've been here for a year now, I never see you outside your house,"

 

"You don't know where I live," Jake said as he smirked at her.

 

"Did you forget who helps her principal father on a daily basis?" She asked, smiling back at him.

 

"I'm not interested in getting into an argy-bargy about my summer, Lily," Jake said.

 

Lily shrugged as a few cars headed down the street they were driving on, seeing a few students walking down the sidewalks.

 

Jake rolled his eyes as he saw a familiar gang of guys headed his way in front of the car.

 

"Oh come on," Lily said as she sighed, "I thought they were ditching today,"

 

"Guess you were wrong, hey, there's Jane," Jake said as he pointed to the far end of the street.

 

"Jesus, I can't even see her," Lily said as she squinted.

 

“Maybe you should get glasses,”

 

The groups of guys by now had surrounded the car and started knocking on it, laughing.

 

Jake sighed as he rolled down the window to see Ryan Fleming.

 

Goddamn Ryan looked like, well, just an average jock who deserves a conk once in awhile. He had blonde hair, blue eyes, and tan skin, and was wearing his school’s letterman, his name on the back, pants, and a shirt.

 

He wasn't that bad of a guy, just really annoying.

 

"Hey English," He said as he rested his forearm on the car roof above Jake’s side window.

 

"Mind if your friends would move away from the car?" Jake asked, trying to stay as polite as he can.

 

"Hmm," Ryan had a thoughtful look in his face.

 

Jake is going to assume he's gonna say no, and he really isn't in the mood to be taking the mickey, so he started honking repeatedly, causing the group of guys circling his car to back away, and Ryan to take his arm off the car.

 

"Alright, what's goin' on here?" Said a familiar voice.

 

And then he heard a bunch of annoying whistling.

 

"Everyone, away from the car, you're backing everyone up here!" Said another familiar voice.

 

The guys left, and two people appeared by Jake's side.

 

"You kids alright in there?" Asked Cronus.

 

Cronus was a student here a few years ago, and now just watches the students here at Alternia High from getting into trouble. He had on a greaser like style, white shirt, black leather jacket, pompadour black hair that slicked back with a purple strand standing out in front and purple eyes.

 

_You can't say to a lot of people that you know a guy which natural purple eyes._

 

He had a weird accent, like, he stutters his Ws and Vs, and his voice overall is rather nasally.

 

"Yeah, we're good, Cronus," Lily said.

 

"Mr. English," Kankri said as he slightly pushed Cronus to the side, crossing his arms.

 

Oh God.

 

The Trigger King.

 

"You should know better than to honk like that in this kind of situation,"

 

Kankri is, um, an interesting guy. He always wears this red sweater, even in the blistering heat like today, and wears a whistle. He had black, shaggy hair and red eyes. He was really into enforcing laws and rules, and also equality, which would be ok if he wasn’t such a ‘social justice warrior’.

 

_You also can't say to a lot of people that you know a guy with natural red eyes._

 

"Yes Kankri," Jake said, sounding like he's been through this before.

 

And he has.

 

"Now look-" Kankri started before Cronus stopped him.

 

"Kanks, just let the kid go, it's summer,"

 

"Cronus, the young man needs to know-" Kankri said before he was interrupted.

 

"You can go, kid," Cronus said.

 

"Thanks, Cronus," Jake said and then started to drive again, seeing if he could catch Jane again, and luckily she was still there.

 

He can hear Cronus and Kankri arguing getting more distance.

 

Jake pulled over and Lily rolled down her window to Jane.

 

"Janey!" He called out.

 

Jane jumped a bit, startled as she looked through the window.

 

"Oh, hey Jake, Lily," Jane said as she smiled brightly at them.

 

Jane was also one of the few friends Jake had, one of his oldest friends actually. She had black hair that reached her jawline and blue eyes with red glasses, and was wearing a blue skirt, a short sleeved white shirt with her backpack.

 

"Wanna join the ride?" Lily asked.

 

"Sure!" Jane said as she opening the back door and quickly scooting into her seat behind Jake's seat.

 

“Glad school’s over?” Lily asked.

 

“Duh, now I can focus on the bakery!” Jane said happily.

 

“You mean your drug trade?” Jake asked teasingly.

 

“Just because it’s called Illegal Bakery doesn’t mean it’s actually illegal!”

 

“Yeah yeah, make sure you share the cocaine, I ran out of my last stach,” Lily said as she looked through her phone.

 

Jane groaned in annoyance. “I guess giving jobs to yall would be too dangerous, my grandma has a reputation to uphold as a Underlord.”

 

“No no bitch, I need a job,” Lily said, turning in her sit to look at Jane.

 

“So do I, Nanna’s been on my case all year about me getting a summer job,”

 

“Then let’s make a deal, shall we?” Jane asked, Jake looking at his rear view mirror to see Jane smile evilly.

 

“Jesus Christ Janey, what is that smile??”

 

“It’s the smile of someone who’s tired of drug jokes,”

 

“You know you love Queen of the South,” Lily said.

 

...

...

...

 

After dropping off the two girls he headed home, parking in his Nanna's driveway and took another sigh.

 

"Well, here goes another summer," He said as he took the key out of the ignition and opened the car door, grabbing his bag, and got out, closing the door behind him.

 

Jake had a nice house. It was his Nanna’s old home before she moved, and when they moved back it was still in great condition.

 

It was a small, yellow house with a brown roof. There was a door at the front, which was obviously the entrance and another door at the back. What was great was that there was a pool in the back, but Jake didn’t really partake in swimming in it a lot, though his Nanna enjoyed sitting by the pool on a sunny day and knitting away.

 

Even though it was a really nice house, it just didn’t feel like home to him.

 

...

...

...

 

"Nanna, I'm home," Jake called out as he went through the door, closing the door behind him as he walked to the living room, putting his bag on the couch.

 

Inside the house there was two stairways, one by the entrance and one near the exit, and between those are where the living room is, and to the left there was a kitchen and a dining room.

 

Upstairs had a hall with three doors leading to the bedrooms, two which lead to the bathrooms, and one which led to a closet with toiletries and cleaning materials.

 

"I'm upstairs, Jake!" Nanna said.

 

Jake found the stairs and went up a floor, going to his Nanna's room.

 

"Hey," He said as he saw her sitting in a rocking chair and knitting, walking over to her and giving her a cheek kiss.

 

Nanna was an old lady, her hair short hair fully gray and her skin sagging off a bit, but she had a very young look in her blue eyes. She wore circle lensed glasses and flower dresses. She wasn’t British, since she grew up in the United States, and only moved to England for Jake when his parents died. Even though she was very kind, she can get a bit cranky and always had a sharp tongue and a thing for sarcasm.

 

"Hi honey," Nanna said sweetly. "how was school?"

 

Jake sat down on her bed.

 

"Boring,"

 

"Not enough adventure for you, huh?" Nanna asked sarcastically.

 

"Yep, exactly,"

 

"Listen, your cousin Jade's coming to stay with us for some time, your Grandpa isn't holding up as well as he would like," Nanna said, sighing.

 

"Is he going to be ok?" Jake asked.

 

"I'm not sure, hon, he's been living on that island for as long I've known him, he's a strong man, but he's old, he might not be living too long,"

 

Jake didn't really get to know his Grandpa very well, he’s only ever seen pictures of him. Since Jake and Jade were young they were separated, and he never went to the island. He only saw Jade on Christmas, and that's just her visiting.

 

He's not really sure why they separated in the first place exactly, it apparently had to do with a missing kid or something, he thinks Jade's sibling, Nanna never really talks about it.

 

"Huh, what's gonna happen to Jade if he does die?"

 

"We'll send her to an orphanage," Nanna said.

 

"WHAT?!"

 

"We'll take her in! What else?!"

 

Nanna was laughing her ass off as Jake was still shocked, before he slowly started smiling and laughing, covering his face in embarrassment.

 

"Jake, I thought I raised you better," Nanna said as she wiped a tear.

 

"I thought you were being serious!" Jake said as Nanna continued to laugh. "I'm glad you're chuffed about my reaction, Nanna,"

 

"Aw, don't be salty," Nanna said as she stood up and ruffled with Jake's hair. "and Jake, go outside or something, you stayed in your room all year, go to the beach or something, maybe you’ll find a mermaid,"

 

“You know mermaids don’t exist, Nanna,” Jake said, smiling a little.

 

"You never know,” She said ominously, her expression mysterious looking. “now, head downstairs, I'm gonna make dinner,"

 

" _Great,_ " Jake said as he raced out the room and down the stairs.

 

...

...

...

 

After dinner, Nanna started to pester Jake to go to the beach or something to the effect of going outside and away from the house.

 

"Go outside, you're young, live your life, get a job, do something goddammit!"

 

Cranky Nanna alert.

 

Jake then decided to fuck it and left the house, walking to the beach.

 

He had in earbuds, listening to some shitty 2017 songs.

 

Jake thought to himself as he walked down the sidewalk and down the street, thinking about what the hell happened to his life.

 

_Seriously, what happened?_

 

He was living his life in Britain, he had his mates, he was doing decent in school, and then boom, he and his Nanna moved here.

 

It's not like he was bitter about it still, he's pretty much moved on from the fact that his entire life was flipped upside down, he's just questioning it.

 

He didn't ask questions about why Nanna wanted to move, just that she wanted to. It was where she was raised.

 

_Maybe I’m being selfish_

 

Before Jake could continue to think on it more, he was at the beach.

 

"Well," He said to himself as he took out his earbuds. "here I am,"

 

It was a nice beach, the sand was all white to the point where it could blind Jake, the water was all shades of blue as it reflected the sun rays.

 

It smelled like salt, the sand was in between his toes, and the sun was beaming down on Jake like a death ray.

 

"... this got boring quick," Jake said as he sighed, putting his hand against his forehead.

 

There was no point in swimming, he didn't bring any bathing suit, and walking around to just look at the sea was a bit of a maddening idea.

 

Jake looked around to find a big rock, big enough to sit on anyway, and sat.

 

He pulled out his phone and went on Pesterchum, and had a few choices.

 

Well, actually, just two choices, Jade and Jane.

 

"Maybe I should text Jade, it's been a while,"

 

By a while he means around two weeks or something.

 

He looked for her Pesterchum name, gardenGnostic, and started texting her.

 

golgothasTerror: hi jade.

 

_Now thinking about it, it was probably not the smartest idea, since there was a time difference-_

 

gardenGnostic: hi jake! :)

 

_Oh_

 

golgothasTerror: i didnt think you would actually text back.

 

golgothasTerror: what time is it for you right now?

 

gardenGnostic: does it really matter? :/

 

_Oh yeah, she doesn't go to school, she just does whatever_

 

golgothasTerror: good point. how are you?

 

gardenGnostic: im good! did you find out im gonna spend some time with you and nanna? :D

 

golgothasTerror: yep. is grandpa going to be ok?

 

gardenGnostic: welllllll... i dont know :/ grandpa isnt really talking to me much.

 

golgothasTerror: oh. im sorry.

 

gardenGnostic: its not your fault! it's not like youre my grandpa. :p

 

golgothasTerror: that would be weird. and confusing.

 

gardenGnostic: yep! :p

 

After a minute of awkward silence, Jade began typing again.

 

gardenGnostic: soooooooooo... hows alternia bay?

 

golgothasTerror: its alright. im getting more used to it

 

gardenGnostic: is it not british enough? :p

 

golgothasTerror: well duh. no one here is british in the slightest.

 

gardenGnostic: you still got your accent?

 

golgothasTerror: yep. you still a furry?

 

gardenGnostic: jake!! you know i hate being called that! :(

 

Jake chuckled to himself.

 

golgothasTerror: sorry. forgot. still into anthropomorphic shit?

 

gardenGnostic: well duh! :)

 

golgothasTerror: when are you coming down here?

 

gardenGnostic: well ive been planning on coming in a few weeks but im kinda worried about leaving grandpa here by himself

 

gardenGnostic: i mean

 

gardenGnostic: whos going to pay the bills?

 

golgothasTerror: jade. youre 15. why are you paying bills?

 

golgothasTerror: and why are you paying bills at all? isnt the island not part of the united states?

 

golgothasTerror: and arent you technically not an american?

 

gardenGnostic: jake! i am an american! i was born there silly!! :)

 

gardenGnostic: not sure if grandpa did though :/

 

golgothasTerror: at least hes filthy rich.

 

gardenGnostic: <3

 

golgothasTerror: ok i got to go.

 

golgothasTerror: bye jadey.

 

gardenGnostic: bye jake!!

 

That was a nice conversation, Jake thought to himself. He was glad he was able to **_WHAT THE HELL?!_ **

 

During that thought, he saw something in the water.

 

It looked like a giant, orange fish doing that thing where they'd jumping over the water to show off.

 

 _Actually, fish don't just jump out of water to show off, it's usually because the water is_ **_WAIT, WHY AM I THINKING THIS NOW?!_ **

 

Jake's shocked expression changed to one of observation, squinting his eyes so that he could try and find that fish.

 

It wasn't too hard, he saw the fiery orange underwater.

 

"I guess it's adventure time!" He said to himself, and chuckled at the reference.

 

He first chased the orange colored thing in the water with his eyes before started following it.

 

Jake's mind was completely on this orange doofer before he bumped into a pole.

 

"Ow!" Jake said as he moved around the pole and continued to follow the orange doofer, rubbing his head.

 

...

...

...

 

After about fifteen minutes he noticed he's not on Pearl Beach anymore, but on Plum Beach.

 

He walked a mile following this thing.

 

 _Well, at least I exercised_ Jake thought to himself before he looked around the beach.

 

Plum Beach was a lot more gloomier, and more scattered with garbage. It looked even more gloomy than usual because the sun was covered by the clouds by the time he got here.

 

Wasn't exactly popular with the tourists.

 

In fact, they didn't have tourists.

 

Anyway, he saw that the orange thing disappeared under some big rock.

 

"... well, that was interesting," Jake said to himself as he crossed his arms, sighing.

 

He was actually really far off from Pearl Beach, and his feet was aching.

 

... then again, he was pretty curious as to where that orange doofer is.

 

He looked around, checking if anyone was there, before taking off his shoes, shirt, glasses and shorts.

 

He walked onto the water, and **HOLY SHIT IT WAS COLD.**

 

**_WHY IS THIS WATER SPECIFICALLY COLD WHEN ONLY A MILE AWAY THE WATER IS FREAKING HOT?!_ **

 

Jake took a deep before he dived into the water, shivering a bit but embraced it, and swam under the rock.

 

...

...

...

 

As Jake was swimming through the water he saw, through the blur, an orange tail.

 

Ah, so it was a fish - he first thought as he was swimming up to resurface, seeing that the orange tail was attached to a guy who was sitting on the sandy platform.

 

They stared at each other.

 

And then they both scream.


	2. The Beginning

The two guys were still screaming at each other, pointing at one another in shock as Jake climbed onto the platform and stopped screaming, causing the other man, mermaid(?), to stop screaming as well as they just stared at each other.

 

Jake was forcing himself to stay calm, screaming in fear wasn't gonna help anything.

 

That didn’t stop his heart thumping fast and hard against his ribcage, to the point where it’s painful, and breathing heavily, his body tense and paralyzed.

 

There was a fucking mermaid in front of him, HE'S PRETTY SURE HE'S HAVING A DRUG TRIP EVEN THOUGH HE DIDN'T TAKE DRUGS.

 

MAYBE HE WAS DRUGGED.

 

_... Is this what it feels like being drugged??_

 

Oh God, what if he was still dreaming? Then again he didn't dream very often. Was he trying to think this summer wasn't going to be boring? But then that would mean that Jade wasn't going to visiting because this entire day would be a dream, but then again-

 

"Don't kill me."

 

Jake's head went back to the current situation, and he looked at the mermaid.

 

The mermaid had blonde hair, a similar style to Jake's but was somehow more 'cooler'. Probably because there were very light streaks of orange in the mix, and was wearing shades, though only that, he was shirtless. He was also deathly pale and his tail was a very fiery orange color.

 

What he noticed mostly was that his left arm on top the letter R is tattooed.

 

"What?" Jake asked.

 

"... don't kill me," The mermaid said as he held up his hands.

 

"... what?" Jake asked, looking so shocked at the mermaid.

 

"I said don't kill me, Cod, do I have to repeat myself a fourth time?” He said, sounding more annoyed than afraid now.

 

"I... I wasn't going to kill you..." Jake said slowly.

 

"Then why the fuck are you here?" The mermaid asked, sounding even more annoyed, his eyebrows harshly knitted together.

 

"I... saw you, or more specifically your tail, and I followed it," Jake said, scratching the back of his head.

 

"Fucking stalker much?"

 

"I thought you were just some giant goldfish, not a bloody mermaid!" Jake said as he crossed his arms.

 

"I'm not a mermaid, I'm a merman, get your terminology right, human," The mermaid, I mean merMAN, said as he crossed his arms.

 

"My name's not human, it's Jake," Jake said as he scolded the merman.

 

"Well, my name is Dirk," The merman, Dirk, said.

 

After awkward silence Jake continued.

 

"English. Jake English," Jake said as he got in his knees and held out his hand for Dirk.

 

Dirk's head tilted sideways in confusion.

 

"The fuck are you trying to do?" Dirk asked.

 

"A handshake. You know, when you meet someone for the first time,"

 

"... you humans are weird," Dirk said, but then took Jake's hand.

 

Jake then shook the hand up and down, Dirk observing the handshake.

 

Jake was also observing the handshake, well, Dirk's hand. He had orange markings curling around his wrist and continued to his index finger, and the skin was connected at the knuckles, reminding Jake of fish fins.

 

“What’s that?” Dirk asked, looking at Jake’s watch.

 

“It’s a watch.”

 

“Does it watch people or something?”

 

“... no?” Jake was confused, does he not know what a bloody watch is?? “It’s a clock, it tells the time.”

 

“Huh. What time is it?”

 

Jake looked down on his watch and then looked back up,

 

“A quarter to four.”

 

“The fuck does that mean?”

 

“It’ll be fifteen minutes to four pm,”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“Oh my God Dirk, stop messing around with me,” Jake said, sounding fed up.

 

“What? I’m not playing,”

 

Jake looked at Dirk, raising an eyebrow.

 

“You’re actually not messing with me.”

 

“Nope,”

 

Jake was stuck between a rock and a hard place, at first he was surprised, how the hell did he tell time!? Then again, he was a merman, and if there were more of him-

 

Were there more of him?

 

How did no one find them?? Those rumors about mermaids being in Alternia Bay really are true??

 

"... Strider."

 

"Hm?" Jake asked, breaking out of his thoughts as he looked at Dirk.

 

"My name's Dirk Strider," Dirk said as he looked at Jake in the eyes.

 

They stopped shaking hands, but just held it as the two stared at each other.

 

"Sorry I screamed at you," Jake said as he pulled his hand away from the handshake.

 

"Back at you," Dirk said as he lifted himself further onto the platform. "so... how did you follow me?"

 

"Um, I saw your tail from Pearl Beach," Jake said, scratching the back of his head.

 

"Well, it's my fault for getting caught, should've known better, it’s the season for humans to start hanging around the ocean,"

 

"You mean summer? Well, yeah, it's good weather for people to visit the beach," Jake said as he sat down off the edge of the platform.

 

"You humans care about that?" Dirk asked.

 

"Well... yeah. Winter and fall are really cold, and can get people sick from it,"

 

"Oh? Humans can get sick THAT easily?" Dirk asked as he scooted away from Jake.

 

"Not ALL humans!" Jake said as he laughed. "I, for one, have a really strong immune system,"

 

"Bragging much?" Dirk asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking.

 

"Well, since we're asking about each other's species, how do you tell if you're a male or female?" Jake asked.

 

"When one of the kids grow boobs," Dirk said sarcastically.

 

Jake laughed at first, before seeing Dirk's very serious face and stopped, his expression now curious.

 

"Wait, really?"

 

"Jake, I was joking, and I'm not gonna explain how mermaid and merman bodies are different from each other, already had to do that with my little brother,"

 

"That's not very fair - oh, you have a little brother?" Jake asked, his head tilting.

 

"Yep. You too?"

 

"No, never had. I have a cousin, though,"

 

"What's a cousin?" Dirk asked.

 

Jake didn't know if Dirk was being sarcastic or serious, but decided to bite the bullet.

 

"Uh, you know... my mum was related to my uncle. They're siblings, and he had a daughter, that's my cousin,"

 

"Jake, I was joking again, can you not pick up my tone?" Dirk said, facepalming.

 

"Well, I don't know you well enough to know you're joking! Hell, you could be lying about having a little brother!"

 

"I didn't joke about my brother," Dirk said as he crossed his arms.

 

"Oh really?" Jake asked, still not believing Dirk as Jake leaned back, his hands and rams keeping him in place.

 

"Yeah... his name's Dave," Dirk said, smiling a bit.

 

Jake decided to bite the bullet again and believe him.

 

"I always wanted a brother,"

 

"Why?" Dirk asked as an eyebrow rose. "They're a bitch to take care of, besides, they don't survive very long most of the time,"

 

Jake did a double take.

 

"Why?"

 

"Our Empress, Her Imperious Condescension, made this declaration that anyone passed 9 sweeps get sent away,"

 

"... what?" Jake said, his voice now more quiet.

 

Dirk laughed.

 

"Yep. It wasn't always like that, but we're having overpopulation issues, my due date's coming up,"

 

"Uhhhhh, that's not really normal here..." Jake said as he looked around.

 

"I would assume, you looking older than nine sweeps," Dirk said.

 

"What's nine sweeps to human years?"

 

"... I think two years? I don't know, I read about it in a book,"

 

"Well, then you're almost 18 years old?"

 

"I guess, sure."

 

"I'm 17, so I'm not quite 9 sweeps,"

 

"Hm,"

 

After some silence, Jake started to fan himself.

 

"Jeez, this cave is humid," he said.

 

Even though the water was quite cold, the inside of the cave was not, probably because the hot air was more contained.

 

"Duh, it's a sea cave. There's an exit over there if you don't want to swim for fresher air," Jake looked to where Dirk pointed, and there was a small hole that went under and out.

 

"Huh, thanks," Jake said as he turned back to Dirk, who was by then slid down the platform, splashing into the water.

 

"Wait!" Jake said, causing Dirk to resurface.

 

"What?"

 

"Will I see you again?" Jake asked.

 

"Hmmm, I don't know... you could come back with more humans and kidnap me, and I can't have that, I have a brother to look out for the next few months..."

 

"You could bring your sword if I do do that," Jake said as he crossed his arms.

 

Dirk smirked.

 

"Good idea, I'll see you tomorrow," Dirk said as he then disappeared underwater.

 

...

 

**_WHAT THE FU-_ **

 

...

...

...

 

Jake was pacing around his room as he rethought about what just happened almost twenty minutes ago.

 

His Nanna made him go to the beach, he saw an orange tail, he followed it to another beach a mile away, saw it go under some rock, than he swam under that rock, found a merman, had a fairly normal conversation with him, and then planned on meeting him tomorrow.

 

**_HOW IN THE DEVIL'S NAME DID THIS SUMMER TURN DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT?!_ **

 

"Jake, can you help me out for a bit?" Nanna called out.

 

"Yeah, Nanna!" Jake said as he raced down the stairs, heading to the living room where his Nanna was.

 

Nanna did a double take at Jake.

 

"What's gotten you so riled up?" She asked, sitting in the couch, folding laundry.

 

"Uh," Jake started.

 

_OH SHIT SAY SOMETHING ENGLISH_

 

"I was reading a book."

 

Nanna stared at Jake, her eyebrow rose.

 

_FUCK SAY SOMETHING ELSE_

 

"A really good book,"

 

"... Jake, were you looking at porn?" Nanna asked.

 

"WHAT!? NO! THAT'S TOMFOOLERY AND YOU KNOW IT!"

 

Nanna laughed as she wiped her eyes, tears escaping.

 

"It's ok, Jake! It's normal for your age to get into that kind of stuff-"

 

"Nanna **NO**!" Jake's face was a red as a tomato.

 

"Anyway, help me out with the laundry,"

 

Jake sighed as he sat next to Nanna, grabbing some clothes and folding with her.

 

If having your parents explain how sex works is bad, having your Nanna tease you about it is worst.

 

_Waaaaay worse._

 

_Wait a second, shouldn't I still be freaking out over the fact that mermaids exist?_

 

**_MERMAIDS EXIST._ **

 

**_WHY DID I GET OVER MY MERMAID PHASE?!_ **

 

 _Oh dear God..._ **_THIS IS A SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY! THOSE MERMAID EXPERTS ON THE INVESTIGATION CHANNEL OR WHATEVER WERE RIGHT, MERMAIDS DO EXIST!_ **

 

_Wait a second..._

 

Jake finished folding laundry at that moment and pinched his arm.

 

"Jake, what are you doing?" Nanna asked as she looked at Jake.

 

"... nothing," Jake said as he stopped pinching himself.

 

"Jake, how many times have I told you causing yourself pain won't prove that you're dreaming? If you're that embarrassed about looking at porn-"

 

"Nanna _I WASN'T LOOKING AT PORN_ ," Jake said, facepalming.

 

"That's what they all say~" Nanna said as she stood up and started walking to the kitchen.

 

"Ugggggh," Jake flopped onto the couch.

 

"Do you want a snack, hon?" Nanna called out.

 

"Nah, I'm just gonna go upstairs and sleep or something," Jake said as he got up from the couch and started heading upstairs.

 

"But it's not even six," Nanna said again.

 

"I'm just tired, AND I’M **NOT** LOOKING AT PORN!"

 

He heard his Nanna laughing as he walked into his room, closed the door, and flopped onto his bed.

 

...

...

...

 

Dirk swam quickly down from the surface as he swam deeper into the ocean until he swam forward and was now under rock, there was nothing but darkness, his tail glowing a low orange as he continued to swim down until he saw the Alternia.

 

He continued to swim down until he was in the rich half of the kingdom, Prospit, several other merpeople swimming, and looking oddly at Dirk.

 

He knew he wasn’t suppose to go through Prospit, but it was the fastest way, and no one turned him into the authorities.

 

At least not so much nowadays.

 

Dirk swam through the half and around the castle, where the royal family lives aka where the Sea Bitch lives.

 

Soon enough he was at the poor side of the kingdom, where there was useless shit and such that live there. Piles and piles of human trash were there as well, which was weird because he thought all things human drop in the ocean just float around the surface meaninglessly.

 

That included himself and Dave.

 

_Welcome to Derse: no one cares about you._

 

Dirk swam around the wall of trash, looking for his hole. Lowbloods lived in holes, small holes, in the ocean floor to keep the high population of lowbloods out of Prospit and not waste boon dollars to construct new buildings.

 

He then found his hole, and swam through it, see two beds, and his little brother Dave on one of the beds, reading a book,

 

Dave looked like Dirk, but younger. His hair was shorter and he wore more rounded and mirrored shades than Dirk's, and his tail was red.

 

He also had the R tattooed on his upper left arm.

 

"Yo bro," Dirk said as he sat next to him.

 

Translation: Dave I fucked up.

 

"Hey bro," Dave said back as he was reading a book.

 

Translation: What the fuck did you do now?

 

"I met a human on the surface," Dirk said.

 

Translation: I met a human on the surface.

 

"... WHAT?!" Dave said as he jumped off the couch and looked at Dirk. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU MET A HUMAN?!"

 

"Listen, it's gonna be ok, I'll kill him tomorrow," Dirk said as he swam around the small room and shuffled around some stuff to find his sword.

 

To be honest, he really didn't want to kill the guy, it's never a fun thing to kill someone, and the guy seems nice, but the dude's a human, he didn't know him, and he could very well bring in other humans and take him.

 

He wasn't gonna let one human fuck up his plans for Dave to escape.

 

"Well good," Dave said as he sighed, pushing his glasses up and getting his book back to read it.

 

“Cool book,” Dirk said as he sat on his own bed.

 

Translation: Did you steal that?

 

“Thanks,” Dave said, his reading stride not breaking.

 

Translation: No, I found it lying around and no one claimed it.

 

"Aren't you gonna see your girlfriend or something?" Dirk asked as he leaned back on his bed, his arms supporting him

 

"Dirk, I told you before, me and Terezi broke up, does it look like my tail has teal?" Dave said as he lifted his tail slightly, showing no evidence of teal.

 

"You said that before you two hooked up," Dirk said as he smirked.

 

“It’s complicated,” Dave sighed as he sighed. “how do you break up with the Blind Leader of the Royal Guards?”

 

Terezi, as Dave described, is the Blind Leader of the Royal Guards, who is strictly involved in protecting the Heiress of the Condesce, Feferi Peixes. She somehow got herself involved with Dirk’s little bro, which had caused some controversy among Prospit citizens, and it gives Dave and Dirk a pretty hard time, especially Dave.

 

“Simple: say that she cheated on you and you’re not cool with it,” Dirk said.

 

“It doesn’t help that she cheated on me with Gamzee-fucking-Makara,”

 

Gamzee Makara is The Grand Highblood’s son and is a Purple blood, and the Purple bloods are one of the most violent highbloods out there, even more violent than the Fuchsia bloods some would say.

 

_Out of all the highbloods, Terezi had to go for one of the Makaras._

 

Dirk has heard quite a lot about how Gamzee has a whole array of paint.

 

_If that doesn’t sound scary, here’s a question; where exactly does he get his paint if he never went on land?_

 

“He still hasn’t come for you, we just need to leave quietly,” Dirk said as he started to sharpen his blade.

 

_Tomorrow was not gonna be fun._

 

...

...

...

 

It was the first day of summer break, and Jake was gonna see a mermaid.

 

I mean merman.


	3. Second Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sooooo sorry I didn’t update on newer chapters! It completely slipped my mind after I finished my sophomore year, and I promise to try not to forget again! Enjoy today’s chapter!

He woke up to the sun blinding him, causing him to turn on his side and groan.

 

He grabbed his phone from his nightstand and looked at the time, and sat up immediately.

 

It was 11:45, he was out all morning and to the afternoon.

 

“Jesus I must’ve been really tired,” Jake said as he rubbed his eyes, yawning.

 

He then grabbed his glasses and put them on, seeing that there was breakfast on his nightstand, and a note.

 

Jake grabbed the note and read it.

 

_ ‘I saw you looked very tired, I didn't want to wake you, you looked so peaceful. I made you breakfast, and I’ll be out for the day with my knitting gals. Make yourself lunch and dinner, this might be an all nighter. - Nanna’ _

 

Jake smiled as he grabbed the tray and began eating.

 

He also had plans himself.

 

Jake looked around his room for a moment, it was small but it was serviceable. His desk was in the far left corner of his room, and his nightstand was just right next to his bed, where his head would be. His bed was pushed to the wall where his only window was.

 

The only this that’ll make this room less dull sounding and normal was the fact that he had posters of cerulean women from Avatar, specifically Neytiri, all over his walls.

 

He was just getting up before he saw another thing written below the first sentences.

 

_ ‘P.s. GET A JOB YOU BUTT’  _

 

Jake sighed.

 

He had even more plans, he suspects.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake was walking down the sidewalk of Kane’s Street in the small town, looking around for Jane’s bakery.

 

Alternia Bay was a really small town, only a few hundred people lived here, and usually everything is within walking distance.

 

The only way he’d describe this place was that it was an alternate version of Middleton from Good Witch, there were a lot of stores and shops that are owned by his neighbors but he didn’t feel so comfortable, there’s usually people walking all the time, and even though he had friends it felt quite isolating here.

 

The people here can be quite nice, but the majority of students Jake has to deal with literally come straight from TV shows. There’s the jocks, the nerds, the emos, etc., and everyone’s divided into these groups.

 

It’s quite dumb.

 

Soon enough he was at Illegal Bakery.

 

Why it’s called that is something Jake will never know.

 

Illegal Bakery from the outside had some baked goods showing from the windows, some small tables and chairs were in front of the bakery and, of course, had a sign saying it’s called Illegal Bakery.

 

Jake opened the door to the bakery, a bell ringing above him as instantly the sweet scent of baked goods hit him.

 

Illegal Bakery was a small store, it had a few pictures of places around the world, there was a table inside, the lights were kinda dimmed, and at the end of the room was the cash register, along with a case that showed some more baked goods and pastries.

 

By the cash register was Jane herself.

 

“Hello, welcome to- Jake!” Jane started to monologue before she realized it was Jake.

 

“Hey Janey!” Jake said cheerfully.

 

“Here for the job I’m assuming?”

 

“Yep.”

 

“Good, I need someone to watch the cash register while me and my grandma can bake.”

 

“W-wait, don’t I need to be interviewed-?”

 

“Jane, I think the baguettes are burning,” Said a voice from the other room, Jake now noticing there was a different door on the right side.

 

Jane then squeaked and rushed into the other room, which he’s now assuming is the kitchen, or something to that effect.

 

He then walked around the counter and and stayed there as he heard chaos from the other room.

 

...

...

...

 

It was 2:30 when he was released. Jake had the morning and first half of the afternoon while Lily had the second half and night.

 

Not what he’d expect from his first day, but he wasn’t objecting, it was quite enjoyable, and he got paid.

 

For now though, he’s got a date with a mermaid.

 

Or, um, he’s gonna meet with a merman.

 

Jake crawled through the small hole that Dirk had showed him before, and walked over to the water, sitting cross legged.

 

After some time he decided to play around with his phone, and saw Jade was online.

 

gardenGnostic: jaaaaaaaake!! :D

 

_ I guess she got to me first. _

 

golgothasTerror: hey jade! whats up with you?

 

gardenGnostic: not much, sup with you?

 

golgothasTerror: not much either on my side

 

_ Yeah, totally nothing, it’s not like I met a mermaid and found out that  _ **_frigging mermaids exist._ **

 

“What the hell is that?” Said a voice that startled Jake so much he squeaked and dropped his phone into the water.

 

“Oh dammit!” Jake said as he was about to grab his phone before Dirk grabbed it and inspected it.

 

“You didn’t answer my question,” Dirk said as he tilted the phone sideways and such.

 

“Uh - it’s a phone, and it doesn’t very well in water,” Jake said as he took his phone back and looked at it, seeing that Pesterchum is still there.

 

Jake shook the phone a bit and tried to make it work, but the screen touch wasn’t responding.

 

Jake sighed, “That’s me and my clumsiness, huh?” Jake said as he put his phone aside. “I’ll have to explain myself to Jade why I left,”

 

Dirk looked beyond confused. “Um, the cousin, right?” Dirk asked. “Why is your cousin in that, uh, box thing?”

 

Jake chuckled. “No, Jade’s not in my phone. She had her own on the island, it’s how we communicate,” He said.

 

“Weird. Is that how all humans talk?” Dirk asked.

 

“Usually, if the person’s too far away to see in person, or just too lazy to walk over to their house,”

 

“Huh, that explains why you’re really chubby,” Dirk said as he poke Jake’s leg.

 

“I am not chubby!” Jake said as he slapped Dirk’s hand away. “I am perfectly in shape!” He said as he crossed his arms.

 

“Eh, I’ve seen better, aka myself,” Dirk said as he presented himself.

 

Jake rolled his eyes and and uncrossed his arms, leaning back on his hands. He wasn’t wrong though, Dirk really was in good shape.

 

_ Probably because he swims a lot. _

 

_ Because he was a goddamn  _ **_MERMAID._ **

 

Or, um, merman.

 

“How are you?” Jake asked as Dirk climbed onto the platform and sat next to Jake.

 

“Eh, pretty good,” Dirk said.

 

It was then that Jake realized that there was a sash across Dirk’s chest, and he saw the sword on his back.

 

“Heh, you brought your sword,”

 

“Well, yeah. Gotta defend myself, though you didn’t bring other humans...” Dirk said as he looked around the cave.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t bring my Nanna, she’d have a heart attack. And I don’t have a lot of friends, and they wouldn’t believe me if I said that mermaids exist,”

 

“We’re not all females, just say we’re merpeople,” Dirk said.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry if I offended you,” Jake said said as he scratched the back of his head.

 

“Eh,” Dirk said, shrugging.

 

After some silence Dirk spoke again.

 

“So, what are you gonna do?”

 

“What?” Jake asked, tilting his head in confusion.

 

“Well, you know merpeople exist, what exactly are you gonna do?”

 

Jake stared at the water, the light illuminating from it as he pondered.

 

Is there any gain he could get from exposing merpeople, besides being titled the mermaid hunter or whatever, getting money, and his name on history?

 

Frankly, he wasn’t interested in that, nor did he want that for the expense of other lives.

 

It just... didn’t feel right.

 

What exactly can he do though?

 

“... I guess nothing.”

 

“... nothing,” Dirk said, crossing his arms.

 

“I mean, if the government knows they’ll probably take you all and experiment on you. I’m not exactly sure I’d want to be responsible for that,”

 

“... huh,” Dirk looked into the water too. “I even checked outside the cave and stuff... and here I thought I was gonna kill you,”

 

“Funny - WHAT!?” Jake said as he stood up immediately and back away from Dirk.

 

“Sorry,” Dirk said, sighing. “I really thought you were gonna bring in more people and kidnap me,”

 

“Well,” Jake sighed as he wiped down his clothes to looked more gentlemanly. “I guess I can’t blame you for being cautious.”

 

“You seem like a cool dude, so thanks for not making me kill you,”

 

“Have you killed others?” Jake asked as he walked back and sat down, criss crossing his legs.

 

“Well, I killed one person,” Dirk said. “my dad,”

 

“Oh...”

 

“Remember how I told you our Empress made the rule that if your were 9 sweeps old you have to be killed?”

 

Jake nodded.

 

“Well, it wasn’t that long ago, maybe a few sweeps, and my dad got into some trouble with the royals and the queen ordered me to kill him,”

 

“Jesus.”

 

“I was, like, six sweeps or something, and Dave was pretty young,”

 

“And you took care of him yourself? What happened to your mum?”

 

“She left when Dave was born,” Dirk said as he sighed. “she’s probably dead,”

 

“My parents died when I was, like, three, it’s why my Nanna takes care of me,” Jake said. “she said they died in a car accident,”

 

“Huh,” Dirk said. “what’s a car?”

 

“... heh,” Jake said, smirking. “you really don’t know a lot of these things,”

 

“I don’t have legs for that,” Dirk said as he referred to his orange tail.

 

“A car is a machine that takes one or more people around,”

 

“You humans are really lazy,” Dirk said.

 

“Well, I use a car to get home from school,”

 

“School.” Dirk repeated.

 

“Yep. School. Do I also have to explain what school is?”

 

“Nope, we have schools, though it’s for the highbloods,”

 

“Highbloods?”

 

“Do you know the hemospectrum?” Dirk asked.

 

“The wheel of color?” Jake answered questioningly.

 

“Think of it more of a line, a vertical line, and the color of your blood determines what class you are. I’m at the bottom, since my blood is red,”

 

“Then is your Empress at the top?”

 

“Yep, Fuchsia. One of the last highest bloods out there, there’s only, like, three Fuchsia bloods,”

 

“Three??” Jake asked, sounding very surprised.

 

“Yep. The Condesce herself and her two heir- daughters, Meenah and Feferi Peixes,”

 

“Those are very weird names,” Jake said.

 

“You’re very weird,” Dirk said.

 

“Hey!”

 

Dirk laughed, and it was starting to get on Jake’s nervous about why the hell everyone was laughing at him!?

 

Well, only two people.

 

“Wait a second,” Jake said, causing Dirk to force himself to stop laughing. “if you’re one of the lowbloods then how did you get your hands on a book about humans?”

 

“Huh? Never did,” Dirk said, sounding confused.

 

“But you said you read something about humans yesterday, about the age thing,”

 

“Oh. That. I didn’t actually read about that, Dave’s ex is the leader of the Royal Guards and she was talking about a conversation she had with one of the heiresses about how humans go by a different age number or something,”

 

“Can you read?”

 

“Nope, I am illiterate as fuck,” Dirk said.

 

“Well, I’m not. Humans don’t go by blood color, we all have the same blood,”

 

“... what?” Dirk asked, Dirk’s face contorted to a very shocked expression.

 

Jake smirked at Dirk’s face before he continued. “Humans aren’t really supposed to judge another person for their physical traits, like skin color or gender, since we’re supposed to have unity and peace,”

 

“Huh... sounds nice,” Dirk said as he went into thought.

 

“So, Dirk,” Jake started, catching Dirk’s attention. “can we, like, talk again tomorrow?”

 

Dirk tilted his head at Jake, and took a moment to think.

 

“I don’t know, Jake,” Dirk said as he scratched the back of his head, looking away. “it’s risky, at least for me, and I really was gonna kill you, but...”

 

“But what?”

 

“I really don’t want to, you’re a nice guy,” Dirk said as he looked at Jake.

 

“You don’t have to visit me very often if that helps,” Jake suggested. “I just really like having a guy to talk to, all I have are females and Joe Bloggs,”

 

“Pfft, me too... besides the Joe Bloggs thing, whatever that means,” Dirk said.

 

“Boring guys, it’s an English thing,” Jake said.

 

“Huh... you’re weird, Jake  _ English _ ,”

 

“Says the mer _ man _ ,” Jake said said as he smiled, crossing his arms.

 

The atmosphere fell to silence as the two guys pondered on what happened.

 

_ I guess we’re friends?  _ They both thought in their heads.

 

_ Yeah, I guess we are now _

 

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow? Same time?” Dirk asked.

 

“Yeah, sure,” Jake said, smiling brightly.

 

Dirk smirked as he waved and slipped down into the water, swimming away.

 

_ Huh, I guess I did do something with the merpeople thing _


	4. Close Encounters

Throughout the past few weeks Jake had been meeting up with Dirk everyday after working in the bakery, and each of their visits got longer as they talked more about themselves, and more or less talk about merfolk culture.

 

“So, the Empress gets to become a human, find a human to mate with, stay on land for a year until the kid is born, and leave with the kid back underwater before the Empress runs out of time on land and permanently becomes a human,”

 

“Yep, perfectly,” Dirk said as he looked up at Jake, his arms on the platform and his chin resting on them.

 

“That sounds so... I don’t even know what to say to that,” Jake said, his eyebrows squeezed together in thought, trying to find the word to describe how messed up merfolk culture is.

 

“Well, it’s always been the tradition. No one is allowed to turn human, only the royals have that luxury, and even that’s limited, no merperson’s ever stayed a human forever,”

 

“If there’s a population issue, why can’t the merpeople leave to become human?” Jake asked. “It just seems like the Condescension just likes killing people.”

 

“That’s very likely to be honest,”

 

“If she’s murdering people left and right why not just swim to another kingdom?”

 

“Well, I’ve been planning on that, but it can be a bit tricky. The neighborhooding kingdoms are pretty far, and you can’t actually leave without a royal’s permission to do so, and even then it’s tricky because currently we’re at the brink of war with another kingdom and if you request to leave you’re assumed that you’re a spy and you’re taken to see the Condesce yourself and she decides if you are a spy or not a spy,”

 

“And does she say no to anyone?”

 

“Mostly to lowbloods.”

 

“I guess the highbloods and royals get special treatment, huh? Since they’re on Prospit,”

 

“Well... that’s not entirely false,” Dirk started. “lowbloods reproduce more quickly because we have the ability to have kids without the use of scalemating while highbloods don’t have that ability, so while there’s a selection of highbloods there’s a shit ton of low bloods,”

 

“Huh,”

 

Jake thought for a moment, and thank God that he wasn’t born with a tail.

 

Jake used to have guy friends of his own back in Britain, but when he moved he lost contact with them, and only had some girl friends. Dirk was a really cool guy in Jake’s eyes, probably one of the only guys willing in this damn place to be friends with Jake. It was really nice to have a pretty close guy friend.

 

And it was really cool that said close guy friend had a tail.

 

“Why do you have hair on your legs?” Dirk asked as he looked at Jake’s legs

 

“Oh. Well, it’s a biological thing with humans. See, way back when humans were living in caves they didn’t have a lot of stuff to keep them warm, so their hairs would keep them warm. It just stuck, like the appendix,”

 

“What’s an appendix?”

 

“It’s a body part inside of human bodies,” Jake said as he put his right hand on his waist and pressed into his side. “it’s useless. I had to get mine removed because it was close to bursting,” Jake explained as he lifted his shirt to show his scar.

 

“Jegus,” Dirk said, staring at the scar.

 

He then poked it, and Jake instantly slapped his hand as a smile cracked, chuckling.

 

“Dude, I’m ticklish!”

 

Dirk rose his arms, admitting his mistake.

 

Jake then looked at the time, seven pm, and stood up and stretched.

 

“I gotta go, me and Nanna are gonna pick up Jade from the airport,”

 

“Oh, airport?” Dirk asked.

 

Jake kept forgetting Dirk wasn’t up to date with human stuff, but got into the habit of explaining about human stuff, just as Dirk did.

 

“Yep, it’s a place where people go to go on planes which are machines that fly,”

 

Dirk’s face was so shocked that Jake started laughing.

 

“You can _fly!?_ ” Dirk asked, sounding as shocked as his face.

 

“Yep. We’re that advance,”

 

“Holy shit,” Dirk said, still looking really shocked as Jake walked away.

 

“I’ll tell you more about planes tomorrow, cya Dirk,”

 

“Bye, Jake,” Dirk said as he slipped down into the water. “tell Jade I said hi,”

 

“Sure, tell Dave I said hi,” Jake said as he smiled.

 

“Sure,” Dirk said as he then swam away.

 

...

...

...

 

After an hour’s long drive, they made it to Alternia Airports, and waited at Passenger Pickup.

 

“This is boring,” Nanna said.

 

“I know,” Jake said.

 

After waiting for a few minutes a few people were walking in, not a lot of course, and Jake looked around to try and see Jade.

 

He actually wasn’t sure what she’d look like now, it’s been a few years since he’s actually seen-

 

“Jake!” A voice called out, and familiarity hit Jake hard as he looked for the source of that particular voice and saw Jade behind a few people.

 

“Over here!” Jake called back, and Jade saw Jake and her Nanna, made an excited squeal, and quickly ran around the group and to Jake and Nanna.

 

“Jadey!” Jake said as he wrapped his arms around Jade’s waist and held her up, spinning her around and Jade laughed.

 

Nanna screamed, Jake and Jade quickly turning their heads to see that Nanna was squealing happily as she pet the dog.

 

Wait, dog?

 

“Is that Bec?” Jake asked Jade.

 

“Yep!”

 

Bec was a pretty big dog, a white shepherd he thinks. Jake never seen Bec before, only in pictures Jade sent.

 

“Jake, let me see my only granddaughter dammit,” Nanna said as Bec got off Nanna, Jake gave Jade one last squeeze before letting her down.

 

Jade was a few inches shorter than Jake with black hair so long she could sit on it and bright green eyes, lighter than Jake’s, securely behind black rounded glasses. She was wearing a khaki skirt with a long sleeved shirt, the sleeves being gray while the rest of her shirt was white, and had the atom symbol at the center of her shirt.

 

Jade went up to Nanna as she put her hand on Jade’s cheek.

 

“Hello, my dearest,” Nanna said as Jade quickly hugged her.

 

“Hi Nanna!” Jade said.

 

“Aw, it’s been so long since I’ve last seen you, I remember you being half my height!” Nanna said.

 

“Nanna, it’s been five years, I wasn’t _that_ short!” Jade said as she pulled away, giving her Nanna a big smile.

 

“Now go and hug your cousin again, that was adorable,” Nanna said as she shooed Jade to Jake.

 

Jade and Jake looked at each other and shrugged, hugging again.

 

“It’s so good to see you! You changed so much!” Jake said, pulling away.

 

“You too! And you also changed a lot!” Jade said, petting Jake’s head.

 

Jake smirked as he petted her head in return, causing her to giggle.

 

“Ok, I’m getting tired of seeing people, let’s go home,” Nanna said.

 

“Ok!” Jade said as she went back to get her luggage that she may or may not have left behind by accident when she saw her family, and they all went to the car.

 

...

...

...

 

When they got home Jake was tasked with showing the house to Jade, even though she really didn’t need a tour she remembers pretty much everything, so he just showed her her room.

 

It’s was slightly bigger than his, but not by so much.

 

The room was untouched and plain, with the exception that it was dusted off and clean.

 

“So, usually we eat dinner at five or six, but we wanted to make you dinner, so eating at eight is a one time thing,”

 

“Ok!” Jade said as she sat down on the guest bed and put her bag on her bed.

 

“How’s Grandpa?”

 

“Uhhh,” Jade looked away. “I think he’s ok, he really wasn’t feeling too good when the plane came to my island,”

 

“Sorry to hear that, Jadey,” Jake said as he sag next to her.

 

“I don’t want to talk about him,” Jade said as Bec jumped onto the bed and walked across Jade’s lap, lying down.

 

“I’m sorry if I made you sad,” Jake said, scratching the back of his head.

 

“I mean, you didn’t, just...” Jade trailed off as she combed through Bec’s fur with her fingers, sighing. “I don’t know, I know he’s probably going to die, but I don’t want him to, he’s my only dad,”

 

“I know how you feel,” Jake said, leaning his arms on his knees. “not exactly easy having that thought,”

 

Jade’s parents were scientists, and during an experiment something went wrong and they died.

 

Certainly cooler than how Jake’s parents died.

 

This was during when their Nanna were divorcing, and they were already taking care of Jake, so when Grandpa left for his island he took Jade with him.

 

Jake wasn’t really sure if Grandpa also took Jade’s twin, he doesn’t really have enough information to go off on,

 

“Yeah,” Jade said, scratching Bec’s head.

 

After some awkward silence they heard Nanna yelling from downstairs.

 

“KIDS, IT’S TIME FOR DINNER,”

 

“COMING!” Jake and Jade said at the same time.

 

...

...

...

 

During dinner, Nanna suggested that Jake take Jade to the beach, since he’s been visiting there a lot since the last week, and Jake was going to object but it was too late and Jade was excited.

 

“It’s only been a few hours since I left the island, but I’m already homesick!” Jade said as Bec sat down next to her on the floor.

 

“Fine, I’ll take you to the beach,” He said, feeling slightly disappointed he won’t be able to visit Dirk, but he’ll have other days. He was more guilty that he’s gonna make Dirk wait and he can’t contact him to say he won’t make it.

 

...

...

...

 

“Dude, where are you going?” Dave asked as Dirk started swimming out of their hole.

 

“Meeting someone up,”

 

“Who’s the lucky guy?”

 

“Haha, very funny,”

 

“But seriously, you keep disappearing, and it’s been getting longer, if you’re recuperating from killing a human-“

 

“Bye Dave,” Dirk said as he then left, Dave looking at the exit for a moment before sighing.

 

“What in Cod’s name did you get yourself into, Dirk,” Dave said to himself as he followed Dirk.

 

...

...

...

 

“Wow! This is a beautiful beach!” Jade said as Bec ran around Pearl beach.

 

Jake kept getting a heart attack when Bec runs off too far for him to see, and Jade kept telling to calm down.

 

“Bec’s a smart dog, he won’t run away!” Jade said as Bec ran back and ran around Jake and Jade as they walked down alongside the water.

 

Jake then got a text, Jane, saying to meet up with him, there was an emergency.

 

“Uh, Jade, a friend texted me, I need to see them, do you want to head home?”

 

“No, it’s fine! Me and Bec will just hang here,” Jade said as she got on her knees to let Bec climb on her, licking her face.

 

“Uh - don’t get lost, don’t talk to strangers, if a guy tries to touch you scream-“

 

“Jake!” Jade said as she laughed. “Calm down! We’ll be fine!” She said cheerfully.

 

Jake was stammering before he gave up and quickly started running, Jade petting Bec affectionately.

 

Bec then started barking, a lot, at the water.

 

“Bec, what’s wrong boy?” Jade asked as she looked in Bec’s direction, looking far to see something red.

 

“... huh,” Jade said as she stood up, trying to see if she could try to see that red thing again.

 

Maybe it was her imagination, or a fish, she always seen stuff back on her island, she figure this was no different.

 

Bec suggested otherwise.

 

He started running away.

 

“Ah - Bec, what’s wrong!?” She called out as Bec began barking and running away.

 

Jesus, what is happening.

 

Jade sighed as she then began following him.

 

...

...

...

 

Dirk was gonna go to the cave, but someone caught his attention first as he was passing through Prospit.

 

“Heeeeeey Strider,” Said a very familiar voice that caused Dirk to sigh and smile, turning around.

 

“Hey Lalonde,” Dirk said as Roxy swam up to him from her house.

 

Roxy was also a lowblood, but she had privileges that pretty much 0.9 percent of lowbloods get, thanks to her younger sister Rose. Roxy had jaw length blonde hair with light pink streaks and a pink tail and had pink scales go up to her breasts.

 

Her upper arm was also tattooed with an R.

 

“Like, it’s been ages since I last saw you,” Roxy said, putting an arm on his shoulder.

 

“Are you drunk?” Dirk asked.

 

“Eyup,” Roxy said, and then hiccuped.

 

“Ok, let’s get you back in your house,” Dirk said as he lead her back to her home.

 

Let’s hope Jake doesn’t mind I’m a bit late.

 

Dave was swimming far behind Dirk, and then recognized the path he was going before he strayed away.

 

“He was going to that cave we used to hang out,” Dave said to himself before he went down the path he remembered, swimming up when Dirk was out of sight.

 

He swam so far up that his tail stopped glowing and there was light.

 

He was amazing by it, actually. He was so used to his tail light and Prospit’s light. The light on the other side was amazing. He was distracted by it to the point where he was really close to the surface of the water, dangerously close, actually.

 

He then swam around, and everything was very familiar to him.

 

There was a human beach near him, and he swam along the outside, swimming for over 10 minutes before he hit his destination.

 

He then made it to the cave, coming up and started breathing.

 

“Cod, it’s been awhile,” Dave said to himself as he was adjusted to using oxygen.

 

He was then face to face with a weird creature. And it looked mad.

 

“Oh.” He said, tilting his head as the dog growled.

 

“Bec!” Yelled a voice from a hole, Dave ducking under water as the creature began to bark repeatedly.

 

“Bec, how did you... oh wow, this place is cool!” Said the girl.

 

Dave was really curious about who was talking, and he peaked his head quickly to see the girl talking.

 

She had long black hair, green eyes, clear sunglasses, and was wearing some clothes, her chest showing a weird symbol, with circles and stuff. She resembled very closely to someone he knew, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

“Bec, I don’t understand why you made me chase after you for one5 minutes!” The girl said as she got on her knees and her dog, Bec, putting his paws on the fatter part of her legs, um, thighs.

 

She then started to affectionately petting the creature, and while Dave was really interested in said creature, he was really interested in the human.

 

_She’s cute looking_

 

A lot more cuter than he thought human girls looked like.

 

She then stood up suddenly, and Dave ducked under the water again, hearing her talking to herself.

 

“Jake would be interested in this,” She said.

 

Dave’s chest was pounding, basically trying to rip out of his chest, nerves getting to him.

 

Bec then started to bark again, and the girl was starting to get annoyed.

 

“Come on, boy,” She said.

 

Then Bec jumped in the water.

 

Dave freaked out as he then started to swim away, far, far, _FAR_ away from the cave and then down.

 

His expression never changed, but his mind ran a mile a minute - no, a second.

 

As he was swimming away, he was looking back and swam way down until it was black, his red tail glowing.

 

He then bumped into Dirk.

 

“Whoa,” Dirk said, grabbing Dave’s shoulders. “what are you doing here?”

 

“I followed you and I remembered the cave we used to visit before we stopped,” Dave said. “there was a human in there with a weird creature.”

 

“You saw a human - did he see you?”

 

“He? I thought it looked like a girl,” Dave said, pulling away from Dirk’s grip.

 

“A girl?...” Dirk then went silent as he thought to himself.

 

“You didn’t kill that human that saw you,” Dave said, crossing his arms.

 

Dirk stayed silent as Dave sighed.

 

“Dammit Dirk,”

 

“Hey, you weren’t supposed to follow me,” Dirk said as his eyebrows knitted together at Dave.

 

“You never said I wasn't suppose to,” Dave said, grumbling. “I’m going home,”

 

“Dave-“ Dirk started before Dave swam away.

 

Dirk sighed as he looked up to where the cave would be.

 

“Sorry Jake, I gotta take care of my brother,” Dirk said as he swam after Dave.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake then left and stood outside of Jane’s bakery.

 

“Thank you so much for helping me, Jake,” Jane said as she smiled brightly at him. “I’m sorry you had to hold the guy off for, like, two0 minutes,”

 

“No problem, Janey,” Jake said as he petted her head. “I wouldn’t let some old bugger start an argy-bargy with you and scare you, you’re like a little sister to me,”

 

Jane looked a little awkward as she sighed.

 

“Jake... I need to tell you something,” Jane said, looking down at her feet.

 

“Yeah, what’s up?” Jake asked.

 

“I-“ Jane started before his phone ringed a text alarm.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Jake said as he got his phone out and looked to see that Jade texted him, seeing that she sent him an image.

 

He swiped it and saw that the image was a selfie, and at first he smiled before he realized where she was.

 

The cave.

 

“UH, I NEED TO GO,” Jake said as he then took off running to Plum beach.

 

“Uh, bye!?” Jane called out as Jake ran at sonic speed, hoping he wasn’t too late.

 

He didn’t care that his legs were on fire, he didn’t care that he was really tired, all he cared about was that Jade did not know that merpeople existed.

 

He ran over to Plum beach, and quickly crawled into the cave, seeing prints of paws and feet on the sand.

 

Jake would, when he visited Dirk and left the cave, covered his footprints in case someone saw them and got in.

 

Did he forget or something!?

 

He then left, covered his footprints as he then ran to Pearl beach to see Jade was playing fetch with Bec.

 

Jake sighed, very visibly relieved to see Jade and ran up to her from behind, hugging her.

 

“Ah!” She called out as she grabbed Jake’s arms from around hers, turning her head to see Jake and laugh.

 

“Oh my God, Jake you scared me!” Jade said as she hugged his arms. “What’s up?”

 

“Did you go in the cave in Plum beach?” Jake asked, breathing pretty hard from running.

 

“Uh, yeah,” She said. “what’s up?”

 

“Did you see anyone?”

 

“Jake,” Jade said as she pulled away, smirking. “no one followed me, and no one was in the cave. Bec was just acting weird and was running away, so I followed him and he led me to another beach, and he crawled into a cave! It was really cool!”

 

“Don’t go back there, Jade,” He said, finally catching his breath.

 

“Why?” She asked, looking really confused as she tilted her head to the side, very dog like.

 

“It’s not safe to be on a beach,” Jake said. “some guys like to hang around on a beach, and they’ll fuck around with anyone on it,”

 

“Oh, ok,” Jade said, her head straightened and nodded, smiling brightly.

 

He felt bad lying to Jade, but he cannot risk her knowing that merpeople existed.

 

_It was for her own safety_

 

...

...

...

 

The next day, Jake and Dirk snuck away to the cave to meet each other at noon, Jade stayed at home to help with Nanna while Dave was forced to hang out with his own buddies.

 

Jake looked visibly panicked as he waited for Dirk, who came in.

 

“Yo,”

 

“Did you see Jade!?” Jake asked as he stood up, Dirk sitting on the platform.

 

“What? No, I was helping out a drunk friend, Dave came though, he saw her with a weird thing that was barking.”

 

“Bec, her dog, that was a close one,” Jake said, pacing around.

 

“To what?”

 

“Oh, I don't know, Dave could’ve killed Jade if she saw him!”

 

“Excuse me,” Dirk said as he crossed his arms. “just because I was probably going to kill you doesn’t mean Dave would’ve,”

 

“He would’ve,” Jake said, crossing his arms.

 

“... yeah, he would’ve,” Dirk said as he sighed, combing through his hair. “he knows that I didn’t kill you,”

 

“Wait, you lied to your brother about that??” Jake asked.

 

“Well, what the fuck do you want me to say? ‘Yo Dave, I’m gonna hang out with a friend of mine on the surface, the human I was supposed to kill, remember?’ Is that how you want things to go?” Dirk asked.

 

“I don’t bloody know! My cousin’s life was at risk!”

 

“And my brother was too!” Dirk yelled back, their voices echoed in the cave. “All because I wanted to spend some time with a fucking human!”

 

“Well fine!” Jake said, stomping out to the exit to crawl out.

 

“Where the fuck are you going?” Dirk asked, sounding worn out.

 

“I’m leaving, and this is the last time I’m seeing you, it’ll save the trouble with both of our loved ones, bye Dirk!” Jake angrily called out as he got out of the cave.

 

“Fine, bye Jake! It was not nice knowing you!” Dirk called out.

 

“It was not nice knowing you either!” Jake yelled as he started to cover his tracks with sand and then stormed off.

 

Dirk and Jake left, feeling angry and both were filled with irritation.

 

And they haven’t seen each other for two weeks.

 

Until a... _certain_ incident.


	5. Boating Out

Jake was sitting on his bed, reading a book before he heard a knock.

 

He’s been staying inside mostly, working on his computer, reading a book, watching Avatar, just stuff that he can do inside. The only times he came out of the house was to work at Jane’s bakery and pick up some food for Nanna.

 

Speaking of Nanna, she was very annoyed of Jake’s sudden homestucking.

 

“Jade?” He called out, and Jade came in.

 

“Hey!” She said as she quickly came in and jumped on his bed.

 

“What’s up?” He asked as he smiled a bit, going back to reading his book.

 

“You’ve been acting rather gloomy these past two weeks, is it because I came here?” Jade asked.

 

“Oh, no Jadey, not at all,” Jake said as he out his book aside and sat up from the pillows.

 

“Then what’s wrong?” Jade asked.

 

What’s wrong was how he and Dirk left things off, and he felt pretty guilty, knowing that their friendship break up was partially his fault, and that he was pretty irresponsibly mad at Dirk, even though it wasn’t Dirk’s fault.

 

He should’ve kept an eye on Jade, taken her with him when he was with Jane in the bakery, this problem could’ve been easily avoided, he just wasn’t thinking straight.

 

“Eh, friend problems,” Jake said, shrugging.

 

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Jade said as she sat cross legged. “I can’t really relate to you, since I don’t really have a lot of friends,”

 

“You would have dozens,” Jake said, smiling.

 

“Thanks, but I got one that I’m happy with,”

 

“Me?” Jake asked.

 

“No, the frogs.” She said.

 

“Oh,” Jake said, looking a little sad as his reaction made Jade laugh.

 

“Of course you, silly! Now, come on, let’s go back to the beach and go boating or something!”

 

“What? Boating?” Jake asked, chuckling. “Where did that idea come from?”

 

“There’re some boats on the beach for tourists to go on to sail, and I love boating!”

 

“You love everything,” Jake said, smirking.

 

“No I don’t! I don’t like rude people!” She said, crossing her arms and pouted.

 

Jake laughed a bit before he sighed. “Sure, why the hell not,”

 

Jake hasn’t been back at Plum beach since he and Dirk stopped talking, but he was very convinced that the boats Jade was talking about was at Pearl beach.

 

“Yay!” Jade said as she quickly left Jake’s room. “I’m gonna get dressed, I’ll be outside!”

 

“I’ll meet you!” Jake called out after her.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake and Jade were walking down the boardwalk and onto the sand.

 

Jade was wearing an adorable green sundress and a floppy beach hat while Jake pretty much just wore shorts and a t-shirt.

 

There, by the boats, was two very familiar people.

 

“Cronus? Kankri?” Jake called out as he and Jade walked closer.

 

Cronus and Kankri looked like they were arguing, and by arguing I mean Kankri talking Cronus’s war off and Cronus just standing it until Jake called out, causing them to stop talking and looking over.

 

“English?” Cronus called out.

 

“Hi!” Jade greeted as she and Jake were now in front of Cronus and Kankri.

 

“Well hello there, is this your little sister, Jake?” Kankri asked.

 

“She’s my cousin,” Jake said as he put his elbow on Jade’s head, using her as an armrest.

 

“I’m Jade,” Jade said, holding out her hand and shook Kankri and Cronus’s hands.

 

“Are you two here for the boating thing Kankri set up?” Cronus asked as he took out a box of cigarettes and took one out, putting one in his mouth.

 

He’s done this before, but he never actually smokes it, it was probably just a habit.

 

“Yep!” Jade said excitedly.

 

“Ok, just grab yourselves a life jacket and grab yourselves a boat, you won’t get lost at sea, the boats are tied by the deck,” Cronus said as he pointed to the far right, were the boats were.

 

Jake forgot there was a deck in the water.

 

Jake forgets about a lot of things.

 

Anyway, Jake and Jade did what Cronus said, grab a life jacket, go pick a boat, and just ride it out.

 

...

...

...

 

“Remember, that if there’s trouble just grab onto the rope and pull yourselves back,” Kankri said as Jake pushed the boat with Jade sitting in it, Jake quickly jumping into the boat once he got a pretty good distance.

 

“Got it, Kankri,” Jake said back as he turned his head and waved.

 

“And also do not panic if-“

 

“Kanks, I think they get it,” Cronus said as Jake and Jade started to float away, the both of them just trying not to laugh at the conversation.

 

“one. You REALLY need to stop calling me that degrading nickname, and two. You don’t know that!”

 

“They’ll be fine, Kanks,” Cronus said.

 

They continued to bicker until Jake and Jade were far enough away to stop hearing them.

 

“They’re funny,” Jade said as she leaned back on the edge of the boat.

 

“Yep. They’re cool guys,” Jake said, sitting the opposite from Jade as he also leaned back.

 

“Are they your friends?” Jade asked.

 

“Um, I’d say acquaintances, they’re pretty nice to me since I moved here at the beginning of school, the guys here don’t really like me,” Jake said.

 

“I guess they had too much jelly in their PB&J,” Jade joked.

 

They say in silence, basking in the sunlight when Jake decided to looked back at the beach.

 

He squinted a bit, he was able to see the beach, but it was pretty far.

 

Jake then looked down at the water to try and see the rope.

 

“... Jade, we should paddle,” Jake said as he continued to stare down.

 

“Let me guess; the rope’s not there,”

 

“Yep,”

 

“They should tie it better next time,” Jade said as she moved more at the center of the boat while Jake did the same on the other side, the both paddling with their hands.

 

...

...

...

 

Dave was swimming along the surface, admiring the light.

 

He knew he wasn’t supposed to go back to the surface, like he and Dirk agreed on, but honestly he just wanted to see the light again. This is the reason why he wore sunglasses.

 

And also ‘cause he thought they were cool.

 

“Hey, coolkid,” Said a voice, and Dave knew exactly who it was.

 

“Hi Terezi,” Dave said, sighing as he turned around to see his ex.

 

Terezi had light brown hair that reached to her shoulders and a teal tail, and like every other mermaid their scales went up to her breasts. Her tail, however, still had some red around the base of her tail. Her eyes were fully red, a very clear case of blindness.

 

“You know you’re not supposed to be this close to the surface, right?” Terezi asked as she circled around him a bit.

 

“And do you know you’re not suppose to cheat on the person you’re dating?” Dave asked, looking unmoved physically or emotionally.

 

“Aw, I’m sorry,” Terezi said as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “you know how Gamzee can be,”

 

“I do not, actually,” Dave said as he moved Terezi’s arm. “why are you here anyway? Shouldn’t you hang out with the purple psychopath?”

 

“Well, I was heading to Gamzee, but then I noticed that there’s a boat stranded over the kingdom.”

 

“A boat? In this area?” Dave asked, sounding like he actually cares.

 

“Yep, look at the rope stranded over there,” Terezi said as she pointed behind Dave, and along the way he saw a lost rope that was just beneath the surface.

 

“Huh,” Dave crossed his arms as he looked on.

 

“Wanna come with me to mess with the humans?” Terezi asked, giggling slightly.

 

“Isn’t that not allowed?” Dave asked.

 

“And now you care about the law?” Terezi asked, smirking. “It’s not against the law to just mess with a human or two, how often do you get the chance? The Condescension herself does it,”

 

“You’re saying this as if you have the same rights as her,” Dave pointed out.

 

“Shouldn’t we?” Terezi asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

 

Dave sighed, “Yeah, sure, messing with humans sounds fucking therapeutic.”

 

“Aw, is there trouble at home again?” Terezi asked as she put her hands on either side of Dave’s face.

 

“It’s not really your business anymore,” Dave said, moving his head away from Terezi’s hands,

 

Terezi shrugged and giggled, swimming away as Dave followed Terezi where the boat was.

 

There were hands in the water, and it looked like they were paddling.

 

“Pfft,” Dave chuckled to himself.

 

He then noticed one of the hands were glowing, but his thought process was interrupted by Terezi.

 

“Ok, so,” Terezi said as she snickered. “I think we should shake the boat a bit, maybe spin it to freak the out,”

 

“The poor humans,” Dave said as he nodded.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake and Jade continued to paddle, Jake sort of losing his momentum but Jade still keeping the same pace.

 

“This is gonna be a while,” Jake said.

 

“At least we’re doing something,” Jade saide as she laughed a bit. “and the water is nice, it’s glowing a bit in the water, there’s a big red tail underwater too-” Jade said before she was interrupted.

 

“Wait, tail-“ Jake was gonna asked what she meant before the boat suddenly started rocking, causing Jake and Jade to move to the bottom of the boat, back to back.

 

“What the fuck?” Jake said as the boat started spinning.

 

“This is weird,” Jade said as she stood up.

 

“Wait Jade I don’t think you’re not suppose to stand-!” Jake started before a certain shake causing Jade to fall over, head first into the water, upside down.

 

She instantly held her breath and had her hand to her nose, her fingers pinching her nose shut.

 

She had her eyes shut tight before her other hand went to her glasses, opening to see through them.

 

She then saw a blonde boy wearing sunglasses in front of her, looking very shocked.

 

She was very confused as to why he was there, he could be responsible for shaking her and Jake’s boat, but of that was the case how did he stay underwater for that long-

 

And that’s the moment Jade looked at the boy’s legs.

 

More accurately,  _ lack _ of legs.

 

He had a tail.

 

Jade’s eyes were blown open as she and the boy stared at each other in shock, until Jake grabbed Jade's ankle and pulled her up, Jade’s body turning right side up and breathing heavily as Jake helped Jade up.

 

During that however, Jade lost her glasses and hat.

 

“Jade, are you ok??” Jake asked as he helped Jade settle down on the boat floor.

 

“Jake _ \- I saw a mermaid _ ,” Jade said as she looked at Jake directly in the eyes, her vision rather blurry.

 

Jake stayed silent before the boy’s head came up.

 

“Here,” The boy said as he offered the end of the rope in her hand, catching Jake and Jade’s attention.

 

“You’re Dave, aren’t you?” Jake asked as he went over and took the rope.

 

“You’re Jake, aren’t you,” The boy, Dave, said.

 

“What the hell is going on!?” Jade asked, switching between Jake and Dave and squinting.

 

“You need to get out, now.” Dave said.

 

“What happened??” Jake asked.

 

“The leader of the Royal Guard knows that one of you fell down, she’s on her way to get rid of you two, she has your hat, go, NOW!” Dave said as he went underwater.

 

Jake immediately started pulling on the rope frantically, Jade looking down at the water.

 

“What the hell, Jake!?” Jade said as she looked at Jake.

 

“I’ll explain everything when we get back on land - oh fuck, oh dammit!” Jake said as he continued to pull, the beach get closer.

 

“We gotta get in the house, they won’t be able to catch us then,” Jake said as they got to the deck.

 

Jake made Jade leave first before him and began running, Jade running after him.

 

Cronus and Kankri noticed them and were going to call them out, but they were running pretty fast, them taking off their life jackets and tossing them by the pile and headed home.

 

...

...

...

 

Dave quickly swam away from the surface and to Derse, swimming to his hole where Dirk was.

 

“Hey buddy,” Dirk said as he was sharpening his blade on his bed.

 

“We need to go, now,”

 

Dirk looked at Dave and raised an eyebrow.

 

“What did you do?” Dirk asked.

 

“I’ll explain later - we need to go, NOW,” Dave said, not even trying to act cool anymore, he was very urgent.

 

Dirk stood up from his bed and slightly scolded Dave before he swam out of the hole.

 

“Come on, we’re heading to the cave,”


	6. Explanations

“-and that’s it, essentially,” Jake said.

 

Jake and Jade were in Jake’s room, Jade was covered in a towel and shivered slightly.

 

“So mermaids exist?” Jade asked, her eyes still wide open.

 

“Merpeople exist, yes,” Jake said as he sighed.

 

“And you’re not talking to this Dirk now?” Jade asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

They were silent before Jade got off the bed, rubbing the towel around her.

 

“Let’s go to the cave,”

 

“What?” Jake asked, taken back.

 

“Let’s go,”

 

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Jade,” Jake said as he also stood up.

 

“Well, if you’re not coming, then I’ll go by myself with Bec,” Jade said, and immediately Bec ran in and jumped on the bed, sitting and looking at Jade, waiting for instructions.

 

“Ok, I’m coming,” Jake said, his hands in the air in defeat.

 

As he was getting up he noticed something.

 

“Wait, where’s your glasses?”

 

“Did you seriously not notice when we were running away for our lives, changing into different clothes, and getting dried?”

 

...

...

...

 

“What the fuck, Dave?” Dirk said when Dave finished explaining himself.

 

They were in the cave, sitting on the edge of the platform.

 

“It was an accident-“ Dave started.

 

“You keep saying how you and Terezi aren’t together, AND YOU AGREE ON  **_MESSING WITH HUMANS WITH HER!?_ ** NONETHELESS  **_JAKE AND HIS FAMILY!?_ ** ”

 

Dave stay silent, looking down.

 

“Goddammit Dave, why do you make things more complicated than they should!?” Dirk asked as he groaned in frustration.

 

“First with Terezi, and then Gamzee-fucking-Makara getting involved, and now this!? We’re gonna be hunted down and the Empress is gonna have our heads and turn us into fucking red paint!”

 

“I’m sorry,” Dave said.

 

Dirk was still pissed off, but he knew that staying mad at Dave wouldn’t solve anything. He still had to take care of Dave, and he still needed to come up with a way for him to escape.

 

Dirk sighed as he patted Dave’s back.

 

“Dirk,” Said a voice from behind them, seeing Jake crawling through the hole.

 

“Jake, what’re you-“ Dirk started before Jake fully crawled in and quickly ran over to Dirk and hugged him tightly from behind.

 

“I am so glad to see you,” Jake said, Dirk frozen in the hug, his heart beating hard before he melted into it and squeezed Jake’s arms around his chest.

 

“Me too, dude,” Dirk said, patting Jake’s arm as Jake let go.

 

When Jade crawled in, Bec immediately ran through and started barking aggressively at Dirk and Dave, scaring them so much they jumped back into the water and hid under it.

 

“BEC! STOP BEING RUDE TO THE MERMAIDS!” Jade yelled, and Bec whimpered and sat down, his head hanging low.

 

Dave was the first to come up.

 

“You know, the plural for guys is mermen, not mermaids,” Dave said, crossing his arms as he climbed back onto the platform.

 

“I just made my dog stop barking at you and you thank me by correcting my grammar?” Jade asked, crossing her arms at Dave.

 

“Grammar should always be corrected, no matter the situation,” Dave said, smirking the tinies smirk in human history.

 

“Kids, stop,” Dirk said as he by then had his head peeking out of the water, full on dad mode as he climbed onto the platform.

 

“David, I think you should explain yourself,” Dirk said as he glared into Dave’s soul.

 

“... me and my ex was swimming near the surface and we found your boat. We just wanted to mess around with you guys but then when you fell into the water and started glowing and shit she started swimming away with your hat and she was gonna go to the guards to kill you and Jake.”

 

“Do you guys really kill humans that see you??” Jade asked.

 

“We’re supposed to,” Dirk answered for Dave. “I didn’t cuz I like your cousin,”

 

“Well, I’m grateful that you didn’t!” Jade said as she smiled.

 

“She’s adorable,” Dirk said to Jake.

 

“I know,” Jake said to him proudly.

 

“But because he didn’t, and then became friends with one, it puts him in a lot of risk, and now that my ex knows that I know that a human saw me it puts me in a lot more risk than before. And because I helped you guys escape she’s gonna know that I helped you guys out, and now I’m essentially a suspect,” Dave said, sighing.

 

“Isn’t his ex in the Royal Guards of something?” Jake asked Dirk.

 

“She’s the damn leader of it, and she’s with Gamzee Makara,”

 

“The son of the Grand Highblood??” Jake asked, sounding very frightened. “As in paint guy??”

 

“Yep, so now we’re in deeper shit than before,” Dirk said as he sighed.

 

“And you guys left your home?” Jade as as she sat down next to Jake, crisscrossed.

 

“Yep,” Dave said.

 

“We’re gonna hang here until then,” Dirk said. “no one knows about this place but Dave and me,”

 

“And John. And Rose. And Roxy-“ Dave started before he was interrupted.

 

“They’re trusted. The most important thing is that Terezi doesn’t know,” Dirk said.

 

“Or anyone, really,” Dave argued.

 

“Dave,” Dirk said.

 

“If these guys are gonna be here for a while, we should help them,” Jade said to Jake.

 

“We’re right here, you know,” Dave said to Jade.

 

“If you weren’t here we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place,” Jade said as she crossed her arms.

 

Dirk chuckled and smirked, “She’s got a point,”

 

Dave stayed silent.

 

Embarrassed.

 

Trying to figure out what to say back at Jade but he couldn’t.

 

_ Fuck, say something ironic or something!? _

 

“Sharkhussie,” Dave said randomly.

 

Everyone, especially Jade, was perplexed for a moment before shaking it off.

 

“Anyway,” Jade said as she looked back at Jake. “we should help them,”

 

“Yeah, of course,” Jake said.

 

“Thanks guys, I appreciate it,” Dirk said as he patted Jake’s shoulder.

 

Dave and Jade looked at the two, along with Bec.

 

Jake noticed it and raised an eyebrow to the three.

 

“What are you two looking at?” Jake asked.

 

“Nothing,” Jade said as she smiled, Dave shrugged and looked away, and Bec barking once.

 

The two guys shrugged, and then Dirk’s stomach growled loudly.

 

“Jesus,” Jake said as he stared at Dirk. “when’s the last time you eaten?”

 

“... a week,” Dirk said, looking away.

 

“Dirk!”

 

“What? I don’t eat that often!” Dirk said.

 

“Because you shove the food in my direction,” Dave said under his breath.

 

“Ok!” Jade said as she stood up. “First things first, let's get you food.”

 

Jake stood up next to Jade. “We’ll be back, we’ll buy you guys some food,” Jake said as he, Jade, and Bec went to the hole.

 

“Wait, Jade!”

 

Jade crawled back to see Dave holding out something in his hand for her.

 

“Are those my glasses?” She asked as she excited took them back and put them on her face.

 

“Yep, I took them before Terezi could find it, like I said she took your hat.”

 

“Thanks!”

 

She then hugged Dave tightly, surprising him before she let go and crawling out of the hole again.

 

Dirk smirks as he looked at Dave’s now blushing face

 

“Sharkhussie-?”

 

“SHUT UP!” Dave squealed, causing Dirk to outright laugh.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake and Jade bought the two mermen food, and the two marveled at the taste of chicken and rice.

 

“It’s just so fucking good,” Dave said to Jade, looking up at her from the platform as she sits cross legged, leaning over the edge slightly.

 

Dave and Jade, along with Bec, were slightly separated from Dirk and Jake.

 

“Well, it’s chicken, it taste good!” Jade said as she smiled at Dave.

 

“Weird, and I thought fish was the only thing to eat, what the fuck, humans,” Dave said as he chopped through the chicken drum.

 

Dirk and Jake chuckled at the two, the two of them sitting in the edge next to each other, Dirk looking at Jake first.

 

“Thanks for bringing the food,” Dirk said.

 

“No problem, I wouldn’t leave a friend starving,” Jake said as he and Dirk paused for a moment.

 

“Are we still friends?” Dirk asked.

 

“... I would hope so.”

 

“... Me too, Jake,” Dirk said as he sighed. “I’m sorry about what happened the last time we met,”

 

“I’m sorry too, it was immature of me to just leave like that, I guess it’s just force of habit on my hand,”

 

“You’re not the only one, I shouldn’t have been sneaking aroung,” Dirk said as he kept his eyes on Jade and Dave, who looked like they were arguing.

 

“He likes her.”

 

“What?” Jake asked as their argument turns more aggressive, with threatening hand gestures and their voices rising.

 

“He does this every time with someone he likes, piss them off,” Dirk said, smirking.

 

“I am NOT a loner!” Jade yelled.

 

“And I’m not a merman, now we’re both lying,” Dave said as Jade growled angrily.

 

Jake actually found this amusing, he rarely sees Jade so pissed off.

 

“You two ok there?” Dirk asked.

 

“Yep,” Dave answered.

 

“No! He keeps calling me an island loner!” Jade said as she crossed her arms.

 

“She’s not, she lives with Grandpa, and we talk to each other quite frequently,” Jake said.

 

“Family doesn’t count, you have no friends here,” Dave said.

 

“Well, what do  _ you _ suggest I do?” Jade asked.

 

“You should act normal,” Dave said, smirking.

 

Bec then suddenly barked and tackled Dave, causing Dave to scream in fear as they hit the water.

 

Jade started laughing as Dave tried to push Bec back.

 

“DONT EAT ME GAAAAAHHHH!!!”

 

“He’s not trying to eat you, he’s trying to kiss you!”

 

“IM SORRY SIR I DONT SWING THAT WAY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!"

 

As whatever was happening in the background, Dirk and Jake went back to talking to each other.

 

“Anyway, so what’s gonna happen with your escape plan?” Jake asked.

 

Dirk had explained to Jake before that he was planning on leaving before he hit 9 sweeps, “travel to another ocean or something” in his words.

 

“... I think we have to stay away for awhile,” Dirk said to Dave, to stopped talking to Jade and listened in.

 

“So, we can’t see anyone again back in Alternia?”

 

“No, I’m sorry bro,” Dirk said.

 

Dave sighed, looking down at the water. “I guess we don’t have a lot choices,”

 

“Like we said,” Jake said, looking to the mermen. “we’ll help you guys out,”

 

Dave sighed as he looked at the humans, and then at Bec who was still near him and looking like he was smiling.

 

“Beggers can’t be choosers, I guess,”


	7. Complications

For the past week, Jake and Jade has been visiting Dirk and Dave, giving them food, hanging out with them, and more or less teaching each other about their cultures.

 

"SO YOU CAN FLY?!" Dave asked, his eyebrows pushed upwards.

 

"I-I mean-" Dave then went back to his poker face. "cool, we have magic."

 

Jade giggled a bit. "Yep, that’s retty cool,"

 

"NOT AS COOL AS FLYING!"

 

Dirk and Jake were enjoying the scene unfolding in front of them, finding it quite cute and sweet.

 

“So merpeople can turn into humans if they want to?” Jade asked, laying down on her stomach and had her elbows propped up, her hands acting like a table for his head.

 

“Only the high bloods can, specifically the Empress, but that’s the idea,” Dave said, laying his head on his forearms on the platform as the rest of his body was hanging in the water

 

“Like I explained before, no one besides the royals can turn human,” Dirk said, sitting off the edge with Jake.

 

“If you guys really need to escape, why can’t you just turn into humans?”

 

“We can't.” Dave said blankly.

 

“What do you mean you can’t?” Jake asked, his head tilting to the side.

 

“You need to drink a potion made by an extremely skilled witch, and those are hard to find, they’re more or less properties of the royals for other purposes, and usually higher bloods are born with magic,” Dirk said.

 

“I mean, the other way of turning human is that you have magic yourself and you can turn yourself with some black market things, but again usually higher bloods are born with it,”

 

“I mean, we know a witch, Rose, but the thing is is that she lost access to the potions when she was caught stealing some to make the human transformation potions,” Dave added on.

 

“And there’s no point in waiting for her to get access,” Dirk added.

 

“Why?” Jaked asked.

 

“She’s not a mermaid.” Dave said blankly.

 

“What is she?” Jade asked.

 

“She’s a cecealia.”

 

“What?” Jake asked.

 

“Half human half octopus,” Jade said.

 

“Like Ursula from ‘The Little Mermaid’?” Jake asked.

 

“‘The Little Mermaid’?” Dirk asked, his eyebrow raised.

 

“Yeah, it’s a Disney movie,” Jake said.

 

“A Disney movie?” Dave asked.

 

“Do you know what a movie is?” Jade asked.

 

“I heard of them, not exactly sure what they are,” Dave said.

 

As Dave and Jade started to talking in their own conversation, Jake and Dirk were looking at the water.

 

“Do you think you can get that Rose girl to help you?” Jake asked.

 

“She was helping us, but like I said she lost access to the potions and is currently under questioning. It’s possible that Rose could get the potion here on time time, but there’s no good chance that that’s gonna happen,” Dirk sighed heavily.

 

“What the hell am I supposed to do now?”

 

“You can still run away, like you planned before,” Jake said.

 

“There was no running away plan, Jake,” Dirk said, his head down. “I was getting the supplies for Dave to escape. Rose said that she wouldn’t be able to make a second potion because of how the black market is and how strict the access to potions are, and by the time I could get them I wouldn’t have a chance and...”

 

Dirk took a deep breath.

 

“It would’ve been too late for me.”

 

“... you were going to let them slaughter you??” Dave said as he stared at Dirk.

 

Dirk stayed silent.

 

“What the hell, Dirk!”

 

“I already lost dad, I’m not losing you.”

 

“Dirk, they’re gonna-”

 

“I KNOW!”

 

Dirk’s voice echoed around the cave, the only sound that was heard.

 

Jade then softly spoke.

 

“How bad is it there?”

 

“Bad.”

 

“Is that why your shoulders are tattooed?” Jade asked.

 

“Yes. They symbolize our blood color, red, and makes things easier for the Royal Guard to take us, and since I’m almost 9 sweeps I’m done for.”

 

“This... this is atrocious...”

 

Everyone stayed silent before Jake spoke up again.

 

“Well, you can stay here,” Jake said, trying to sound optimistic.

 

“Living in a cave for the rest of my life doesn’t sound very appealing, Jake,” Dirk said as he chuckled. “and there’s no way we’d hide forever,”

 

“So there’s no hope? At all??” Jake asked, his voice giving out.

 

They were quiet before Dirk spoke up again.

 

“At least you sweeten the poison,”

 

Jake stayed silent before he checked his phone.

 

“Jade, we should get going-“ Jake started before Jade jumped into the water, and it was glowing.

 

“Oh my gosh,” Jade said as she looked down into the water, keeping herself afloat.

 

“Jade, why are you making the water glow??” Jake asked.

 

“I’m not purposely doing it, Jake!” Jade said.

 

“Do you glow normally!?” Jake asked.

 

“NO!” Jade said, laughing.

 

“Oh no,” Dave said as he stared at Jade.

 

“What? What does this mean?” Dirk asked.


	8. Feelings

“You’re the Condesce’s true heiress.”

 

“Heiress?” Jade asked as she climbed out of the water and squeezed water out of her hair.

 

“But how? I thought Feferi-” Dirk said, sounding very alarmed.

 

“She’s suppose to be, but when the water glows like that it means you’re next in line to rule, Jade’s supposed to be next to rule,” Dave said.

 

“But the Condesce didn’t have a kid, it’s just a stupid rumor,” Dirk said as he looked at Jake and Jade.

 

“What’s gonna happen with Jade?” Jake asked, getting up and wrapping an arm around Jade’s shoulder and pulled her close.

 

“Don’t let her touch the water anywhere near here,” Dirk said, urgency in his voice.

 

“What will happen with Jade, Dirk!?” Jake yelled.

 

“They’ll take her away, and turn her into a mermaid to rule Alternia,” Dave said.

 

“Jake,” Jade said, her voice shaking. Jake wasn’t sure if she was cold from getting out of the water or the fact that she could get kidnapped by merpeople and get turned into a mermaid by force.

 

Jake was leaning to the second.

 

Jake and Jade looked at each other, before Jake quietly escorted Jade out the cave.

 

They didn’t even bother a goodbye, they just left.

 

...

...

...

 

It’s been a week, and while Jake still visited Dirk and Dave everyday he’s only done so to give them food.

 

That was, until one day...

 

“Jake,” Dirk called out as Jake was just about to crawl out of the cave.

 

Jake stood up and turned around, Dirk carrying himself onto the platform.

 

“Can we talk?” He asked.

 

Dave was underwater, sleeping in as he and Jake finally were alone.

 

“It’s been awhile, huh,” Jake said, looking away slightly as he walked to the edge and sat on it. “since it was just us two,”

 

“Yeah.” Dirk said as the two were sitting on the edge of the platform.

 

“I’m sorry,” Dirk said.

 

“What? Why?” Jake asked, completely taken aback.

 

“You know, making you responsible for the well being of my brother and me, getting your family involved, kinda putting Jade in danger of getting forcefully turned into a mermaid so that she could rule Alternia, possibly being related to the Condesce, etc.,”

 

“Well, you know, these things happen,” Jake said, trying to sound convincing.

 

Dirk was not convinced. “No it doesn’t,”

 

“... yeah, it doesn’t. But it's not your fault.”

 

“I mean, it kinda is-” Dirk started before Jake interrupted.

 

“Listen, you are one hell of a mate to me, and while I could do without the ‘getting my family involved, kinda putting Jade in danger of getting forcefully turned into a mermaid so that she could rule Alternia, and possibly being related to the Condesce’ thing, you didn’t purposely try to hurt me or Jade, it’s not your fault in my eyes,”

 

“You’re too nice, dammit,” Dirk said, grunting a bit to himself.

 

“And you’re too innocent,” Jake said as he put a hand in Dirk’s hair and shook his head a bit.

 

And then he started feeling his hair, gawking at it.

 

“Jesus that’s soft,”

 

Dirk scoffed as he smirked, taking Jake’s hand and pulling it down. “I know, it’s great as fuck, just like I am,”

 

Dirk was still holding Jake’s hand as he stared at Jake’s face.

 

Jake didn’t really know what to do, he just stared at Dirk back.

 

It then occurred to Jake about something.

 

“You know, I’ve never seen your eyes,”

 

“... oh,” Dirk then removed his pointed sunglasses and showed his eyes.

 

“... oh wow,” Jake said as he stared into Dirk’s brilliant orange eyes. “your eyes are gorgeous,”

 

Jake then realized what he said and started coughing in embarrassment.

 

“Jesus, why did I say that-“

 

“Nah, it’s cool,” Dirk said, his poker face not breaking, but Jake could see the amusement in his eyes.

 

Jake’s face was as red as a tomato, looking away as Dirk put the shades back on, chuckling at Jake’s embarrassment.

 

“Bro, it’s cool, that’s one of the nicest compliments I’ve had in a long time,” Dirk said, smiling at Jake who decided to look back at Dirk.

 

“I didn’t mean to sound, um, gay,”

 

Dirk tilted his head.

 

“What’s gay?”

 

“Oh, it’s when one sex is attracted to the same sex,”

 

“Oh, so guy and guy or something?”

 

“Pretty much, yeah,”

 

“We don’t have that back in Alternia,” Dirk said. “we just like who we like,”

 

“I mean, there’s scalemating,”

 

“Hm... you know, I explained how babies are born where I come from-”

 

_ Oh no. _

 

_ Not the talk _

 

_ Anything but the talk _

 

“-but you never explained that to me. Tell me,” Dirk said as he leaned in closer.

 

Jake was even more red if that was possible.

 

“Ummmmmm, I’m not sure-“

 

Jake started before he looked at Dirk, who looked like he could take it, and decided to bite the bullet.

 

“... so, a woman has a, um...  vagina , and a man has a...  penis , and in order to make a baby, the man has to...  put his penis in the vagina and have his seed put inside of the vagina and that’s where babies come from ,” Jake said, looking so embarrassed.

 

“... that’s weird,” Dirk said, trying to go through his head about human biology.

 

“Sex is weird, yeah,”

 

“No, sex is awesome, your human reproduction is weird,”

 

“Dirk, that is sex,” Jake said, scratching the back of his head.

 

“... oh fuck,” Dirk said as he started laughing.

 

“Wait, merpeople have sex!?” Jake asked.

 

Dirk laughed even harder, covering his face.

 

“Yeah, duh,” Dirk said as he wiped his eyes.

 

“But how??”

 

“Are you sure you want to know the answer to that question?” Dirk asked, his poker face returning.

 

“... actually, no, I don’t,” Jake said, his face losing a few notches in his blush.

 

“I bet it’s better than human sex,” Dirk said, smirking.

 

“I wouldn’t know, I never had sex,”

 

Jake then covered his mouth quickly.

 

“Oh... really?” Dirk asked.

 

“... yeah.” Jake said, looking away.

 

“Why?”

 

“Well, I haven’t found the right person, there’s barely anyone,” Jake said.

 

“Are you gay?”

 

Jake was about to answer mindlessly that he wasn’t gay, that he was straight as an arrow. But... thinking now, he’s not sure.

 

Admittedly, he’s been alone in the romance department, no one seemed interested in him in that way, and all of his crushes were unrequited.

 

And... his thoughts of Dirk...

 

_ No, no, we are just friends _

 

“I don’t really know, Dirk. I never dated anyone,”

 

“... huh,” Dirk said as he examined Jake’s face.

 

“What?” Jake asked.

 

“... I don’t know, Jake English,” Dirk said as he let go of Jake’s hand and placed both of them on Jake’s neck, cupping him.

 

Jake was confused for a moment before Dirk brought Jake’s face closer to his, and then Jake started to panic.

 

“Di-Dirk-“ Jake started, his blush worsening.

 

Dirk then let go quickly and looked away. “Um, I think you should head back to Jade, you never know if there’s a royal looking for her,”

 

Jake snapped back to his reality before he stood up quickly.

 

“I’ll see you later, Dirk,” Jake said as he crawled through the hole and left.

 

Dirk sighed as he looked down on the bottom of his tail and saw a green color blending into his orange tail.

 

“Why the fuck did it have to be with a human?” Dirk asked himself, burying his face in his hands.

 

...

...

...

 

“Hey,” Jade said as Jake came in her room, seeing her hanging with Bec.

 

“Hi Jade,” Jake said as he sat next to her on her bed, becoming Bec’s seat.

 

“Are you ok?” Jade asked as she looked at Jake’s face, putting the back of her hand on his cheek. “You’re really red,”

 

“O-oh! Um, yeah! I’m good, I’m chill! More than chill!” Jake stutter.

 

Jade looked at him with a smirk.

 

“Jake, you should  _ Be More Chill _ ,” Jade suggested teasingly.

 

“Oh, you and your musicals,” Jake said as his face turned back to normal.

 

“But seriously, are you ok? You were gone a bit longer than usual,”

 

“... I explained to Dirk where babies come from,” Jake said, his face turning red again.

 

“Oh,” Jade said as she started laughing. “I don’t see how that’s embarrassing, Jake,”

 

“Well, of course! You lived on an island with no one but Grandpa and a dog!” Jake said as Bec in the background barked.

 

“And frogs!” She added cheerfully.

 

“No social pressure or influences!” Jake added.

 

She then calmed down and wiped her eyes.

 

“But why were you explaining where babies come from?”

 

“Um... it just sort of happened?” Jake said questionably.

 

“Were you worried about having sexy times with Dirk?~” She asked teasingly.

 

“What!? No! I’m not-“

 

Jake then stopped himself.

 

_... I’m not gay, right? _

 

Jake never actually thought about his sexuality, since he’s never dated anyone. He did thought he liked Jane at one point during the year, but then realized he really didn’t, it was just the psychology of people shipping them together that made him think that way.

 

The only girls he’s been interested are the cerulean babes in Avatar.

 

I mean, look at Neytiri for God’s sake!

 

But then again, they are fictional characters, and aliens, and it would be hard to breathe on Pandora without a mask which sounds difficult, and avatars themselves are expensive as fuck-

 

_ Wait, why am I even thinking this, I don’t even like Dirk! _

 

_ Wait, I mean I do like Dirk just... not in that way... _

 

Jake then started thinking more,

 

_ Do... do I  _ **_like_ ** _ like Dirk? _

 

When that thought came up a warm and kind of fluffy feeling started flooding throughout Jake’s chest and then through his whole being.

 

_ Oh no, please don’t tell me I have a crush on a merman who’s probably going to die, why a merman of all people!? _

 

“Jake?” Jade asked as she shook Jake’s shoulder from his thoughts.

 

“... Jade, what am I?” Jake asked.

 

“Um... my cousin?”

 

“Jade, I never liked girls besides the aliens in Avatar, and Dirk is one of the closest guy friends I have and I just have these feelings and I don’t know what’s normal,” Jake said as he started to ramble on.

 

“I know it would be ok if I was gay, but I don’t know if I am, and I’m really, really confused-“

 

Jade quickly put his head to her shoulder, patting his back gently.

 

“Maybe you need some time to figure things out,” Jade said as she combed his hair a bit.

 

“How?” Jake asked as he pulled away, wiping his eyes. “I mean, we kinda have bigger problems than my sexuality-“

 

“Bro,” Jade said, effectively interrupting Jake.

 

“If you’re questioning who you like, and you’re not taking the time to think about it it’ll drive you crazy, and it won’t help anyone, especially yourself. And it’s not good to have that kind of stress right now,”

 

“... you’re right,” Jake said as he pulled away and chuckled. “thanks Jade. Oh dear, how am I gonna talk to Dirk?”

 

“I can go, if you want,” Jade said, sitting up.

 

“But you-“

 

“I won’t touch the water,” Jade said, facing her body to him and crossed her heart with her finger. “I cross my heart and hope to die,”

 

“... do not touch the water. Not even a toe,” Jake said, sternly looking at Jade.

 

“Ok! And by the way, did Dirk do something to... you know... question yourself?”

 

“Uhh, he held my hand, showed me his eyes, and weirdly put his hands on my neck,”

 

“Is that all?” Jade asked.

 

“Why are you asking??” Jake asked back.

 

“I just wanted to make sure he didn’t do anything, um... bad,”

 

“What, like kiss me?” Jake asked, and then chuckled at the thought.

 

And then thought about it more.

 

...

 

_ Would I kiss Dirk? _

 

And then even more of that warm and fluffy feeling flooded in and Jake started blushing at the thought of kissing Dirk.

 

“Just - nevermind, that was a stupid thought, but just in case if he does anything to hurt you I’m bringing out the guns,” Jade said as she pulled Bec from Jake’s lap onto hers.

 

Jake laughed for a bit, feeling loved.

 

“So... did you see Dave?”

 

“Huh? Oh, no. He was sleeping,” Jake said, slowly starting to stop laughing as he rubbed his eye.

 

“Huh...” Jade said. “I wonder what their sleeping habits are. Dave said that their tails glows when they swim underwater back to Alternia, I think they either live below the photic zone, or they live under us,”

 

“Under us?” Jake asked.

 

“Like, under the land, which I think it’s the case because it takes a long frigging time to get under the photic zone,”

 

“You looked at Google, didn’t you,” Jake said as he leaned back on his elbows, looking up at Jade.

 

“... maybe.”

 

...

...

...

 

The next day, Jade was visiting the boys at the cave while Jake was on a soul searching journey.

 

Dirk was slightly surprised to see Jade instead of Jake, as predicted.

 

“Oh, um, hi,” He said as she came in with a basket of today’s food.

 

“Hi!” Jade said as she walked over to Dirk and kneeled down to give him the basket.

 

“Dave’s staying underwater if you're curious,” Dirk said.

 

“Why would I be curious?” Jade asked.

 

“Because you like him,” Dirk said bluntly, which caused Jade to be caught off guard.

 

“I just met him!” Jade said, crossing her arms.

 

“And I just met your cousin not too long ago and I’m already falling for his charms,”

 

Jade bit her lip in thought, “You do know that Jake’s trying to figure out of if he even likes guys, right?”

 

“I’m not sure why you humans worry about that,” Dirk said. 

 

“Well,” Jade said as she criss crossed her legs and sat in front of Dirk. “there are these homophobes, people who are against gay people and such.”

 

“Why would they be against it?” Dirk asked.

 

“Sometimes they use religion as a means to justify their reasoning, but you can be homophobic without being religious, but I think they just think it’s wrong, and gross,”

 

“Sounds sad,” Dirk said.

 

“But nowadays we’re more accepting, and for Jake personally I think he’s just shocked. He never liked anyone, he doesn’t know what to expect, and now that he’s questioning if he likes you he’s going a bit heywire,”

 

“He did mention about not having sex,” Dirk said.

 

“I didn’t need to know that, Dirk,” Jade said, giggling.

 

“Oh, sorry,”

 

“Hey, is your tail ok?” Jade asked as she looked over Dirk and saw that near the fins his tail was green.

 

“My tail’s ok,” Dirk said as he then climbed onto the platform, causing Jade to move over to give Dirk some space.

 

“You’re into science stuff, right? Jake told me some things about you,”

 

“Yep!” Jade said proudly.

 

“Well, when a merperson is in love with another merperson their tail changes to the color of said merperson’s blood color, or in my case their eyes,”

 

“Oh, wow! That’s so interesting!” Jade said, getting excited by biology. “So, like, your tail involuntarily changes the surface of it’s skin to another pigment? Holy shit, does that mean merpeople’s genetics crossed with cephalopods? Changing the skin of your tail would mean that your chromatophores are connected to the nervous system and you’d have to have really good eyes to-“

 

“Calm down,” Dirk said, chuckling at Jade’s excitement.

 

“Honestly, if the existence of merpeople wasn’t a scientific discovery as it is, discovering that you’re possibly part of the mulluscan class is frigging incredible! There’s, like, 85,000 extinct animals found!”

 

Dirk was silent for a moment, staring at Jade expectingly.

 

“Oh! I’m sorry if that sounded morbid, I’ll shut up now,” Jade said, her face turning red in embarrassment.

 

“No, no, it’s fine.”

 

Jade was curious as to what Dirk was waiting for, until it hit her.

 

Dirk changed his tail to green, and Jake’s eyes are very green, and Dirk himself said how merpeople would change their tail color because they were-

 

“Oh my God, you’re in love with Jake?”

 

“... yeah,” Dirk said as he sighed.

 

“Hey, can you guys shut up?” Dave asked as he poked his head from out the water. “Some of us are trying to sleep in shallow water on strachy rocks,”

 

“Well, sorry Sleeping Beauty!” Jade said jokingly.

 

“I was a sleeping beauty before you guys woke me up,” Dave said before Dirk pushed Dave’s head down underwater.

 

“Go back to your nap, knucklehead,” Dirk said.

 

Dave then pushed Dirk’s hand and sat up on the platform.

 

“Nah, I’m not tired,” Dave said. “also, not 3 sweeps,”

 

“Whatever,” Dirk said.

 

“Anyway, I should be heading back,” Jade said as she stood up.

 

“Aw, but I just woke up, the last time I saw you was when you were glowing like a Glofish,” Dave said.

 

“Lucky for you I’ll be Jake’s replacement for a bit, I’ll be back tomorrow,” Jade said as she smiled at him one last time before she crawled out of the cave.

 

Dave and Dirk then looked at each other.

 

“Poor you, falling for a human, just like Ariel,” Dave said.

 

“Ariel?”

 

“The main character and mermaid of The Little Mermaid, Jade showed me some clips of it, and even though she’s pretty stupid the clips she showed me were frigging incredible, they were moving pictures,”

 

“You know she’s not stupid,” Dirk said.

 

“... yeah...”

 

The two of them slid down into the water and turned around, leaning against the platform with their arms resting on the edge.

 

“I’ll eat later,” Dirk said, “I’m gonna take a nap,”


	9. The Condescension’s Introduction

Terezi swam to the court quickly, passing by the gate and into the castle, feeling the walls to find where Her Imperious Condescension would be.

 

“What is it, Royal Guard Pyrope?” The Condesce asked.

 

Even though Terezi couldn’t see the Condesce, she heard in her voice the power she had, and it terrified Terezi to the core.

 

“A human was seen on the surface and saw a merperson, we must act quickly to kill them,” She said as she held the hat, presenting it to the queen.

 

She heard the Condesce get up from her throne and swim to Terezi

 

“You wouldn’t know this, my dear Guard, but I already knew the human fell into the water,”

 

“What?” Terezi’s eyebrows knitted together.

 

“You see, the human that fell is my true heiress,” The Condesce said, Terezi could feel her smile.

 

“But... but Feferi-“

 

“Feferi  _ was _ my replacement, however she is not the true heiress to my throne. My trident was glowing, and that only happens when my true heiress touches the water in close proximity of me. My Guard, my heiress is here,”

 

Terezi was very, very confused.

 

The Condesce failed at finding a human to have a child with on the surface to take her throne, she made two heiresses to keep the fuchsia bloodline as rulers,

 

“You must be very confused,” The Condesce said as she, Terezi hearing Her Imperious Condescension swimming back on her throne.

 

“Pyrope, you are one of my best Guards, and your mother has helped me quite a lot with some injustice,”

 

_ Too bad you’re the cause of it all now _ , Terezi thought to herself.

 

“I’ll tell you the  _ tail _ of my time on the surface. I fell in love with a human so long ago, I was quite young, so I wasn’t as smart about romance as I am now,”

 

_ Because you’re extremely single _

 

“Anyway, I fell in love, and I had a grub, a girl.”

 

_ Holy shit the rumors were true _

 

“However, I realize that I wasn’t strong enough to leave him. I knew I had a duty here as the Empress, but he was pulling at my heart. I had to leave, but I couldn’t leave with my daughter, I couldn’t leave that man all alone, so I left alone. I failed in bringing my own heiress,”

 

The Condesce was silent for a moment before she continued.

 

“When I came back I said that I lost the child, and then I was pressured to making my own heiresses, which is where Meenah came in. But when Meenah denied the throne and ran away I made another heiress, Feferi. Leaving my child behind was the worst mistake I could ever make,

 

“I then visited the surface, I wanted to see my child after so many years of avoiding them, but then I found out my daughter had a child, and that the man I loved died not so long ago,”

 

Terezi could hear the Condesce’s breath shake, struggling to stay calm. She actually felt some sympathy for the corrupt queen.

 

“So many years later, I saw that my trident was glowing, my heiress was back, so I sent my henchmen to fetch her for me, I gave them a potion to make my heiress have a tail, but they took a boy that wasn’t my heir,  _ a boy _ .”

 

Mermen traditionally weren’t allowed take up royal positions, however if there wasn’t any females in the royal bloodline then the males would take it up.

 

“I would not have it, he’s still alive but he will not reign. I lost my heiress once I will not lose her again, I will not have any mistake on this, Pyrope. Get my heiress,”

 

“But... how do you expect me to get her?” Terezi asked.

 

The Condesce was silent for a moment, and it made Terezi think she wasn’t there anymore.

 

“Your Imperious Condescension?”

 

“I’ll have to prepare you myself,” The Condesce said.

 

“For what??” Terezi asked.

 

“For the surface, you’re gonna get my heiress back,”

 

_ Oh Cod _


	10. Intervention

Jake stayed inside for the next week, looking up on the internet, trying to figure out what exactly he is.

 

He’s been taking those ‘are you gay?’ quizzes, which weren’t very good on his opinion, they either say he’s gay, straight, or asexual.

 

Jake knew he wasn’t asexual, his problem was if he likes boys or girls, not if he doesn’t feel any sexual attraction to anyone.

 

Hell, maybe he liked both and he had high standards or something.

 

“Buzzfeed certainly doesn’t help anything,” Jake said as he sighed, turning off his computer and went into the covers of his bed, pulling them over his head.

 

He was tired, even though he didn’t do anything.

 

“Why is this so hard?” He said to himself.

 

There was then a knock at his door.

 

“Come in,” Jake said, and it was Nanna.

 

“Jake, dear, is everything alright?” Nanna asked as she walked over and sat on his bed.

 

“... I don’t know,” Jake said, sighing. “I’ve been a bit confused,”

 

“About what?” Nanna asked.

 

“Well... there’s this guy,”

 

“Oh my gosh, you like someone??” Nanna asked excitedly.

 

“... you’re ok with me liking a guy?” Jake asked.

 

“Jake, I’d be ok with a damn three eyed duck if you liked them,” Nanna said, messing with his hair.

 

Jake scoffed a bit, rubbing his eye.

 

“Nanna, I don’t know if I like him, and I’ve been trying to figure out if-“

 

“If you like guys?” Nanna interrupted.

 

“... yeah,” Jake said, sighing.

 

“You know,” Nanna started, bending over and resting her elbows on her knees, he eyes on Jake, “your uncle and I had this conversation when he was about your age. This was all before gay marriage was legalized, you know.”

 

Jake perked up a bit, he rarely got stories about his family.

 

“Wait, uncle Cole was gay!?”

 

“He was bi, sweetie. Anyway, he was a tough kid, a real gangster he was, that son of a bitch,” Nanna said, chuckling.

 

“Nanna, you do realize you’re-“

 

“I’m aware that the statement I said makes me the bitch, it’s quite accurate,” Nanna said, smirking,

 

“Anyway, he met this young man, and at first they were close friends, and then he started having feelings for him, and then people he thought were his friends told people about him liking guys, and he was bullied, very harshly,”

 

“Poor guy,”

 

“Yes, indeed. Your Grandpa wasn’t much of a help either, he thought that your uncle was being a sissy, people calling your uncle a fag, that he was gonna burn in hell,”

 

“Is that why you and Grandpa had a divorce,”

 

“Well, it was one of the reasons.”

 

“How many reasons were there?”

 

“It was endlessly, honey. The only reason why we even got married was because he knocked me up when we were in high school,”

 

Jake was blown away, literally, he fell on the floor for being so shocked.

 

“What!?” Jake yelled as he quickly got back on the bed.

 

“Yes. I wasn’t a good Christian was I was younger, and when my father found out,” She slapped her hands together and started chuckling a bit, “he was so mad at me, he couldn’t even look me in the eyes for the next 9 months before he was on his deathbed, anyway, we’re getting off track,”

 

Nanna cleared her throat as she continued.

 

“I was the only one who accepted your father for the way he was, we were always so close, sadly much more closer than with your mother,” Nanna signed, one filled with regret.

 

“I told your uncle this: do not worry about what others think of you, not even your damn father. If it makes you happy, and it isn’t hurting you or others then why should you care what others think?’ And he and that young man started dating, they were together for so many years, they moved in together after high school, honestly I wished I had that kind of relationship. It was such a shame he died so young, he was a good man, Cole was so heart broken,”

 

“How come you never told me this stuff?” Jake asked.

 

“Well, maybe because I wasn’t ready to, I didn’t want you to think differently of me,”

 

“You’re still my Nanna, you didn’t change in my eyes, I just know more about you,”

 

Nanna smiled as she leaned over and kissed Jake’s cheek sweetly.

 

“You know, your mother named you after him, in honor of your uncle’s boyfriend. She was close to him too,”

 

“Huh,” Jake said to himself.

 

“Yeah, he was very loved, just like you,” Nanna said as she gently wrapped her arms around Jake’s shoulders.

 

“... you know, that was a really nice story, but I don’t know how it’ll help me with my sexuality,” Jake said as Nanna laughed.

 

“I guess I did rambled on, huh?” Nanna lightly patted his shoulder. “Do not worry too much,”

 

“... but what if I lose him? As a friend, I mean I don’t even know if he likes me that way-“

 

“He would understand. And if he doesn’t but wants to, you both will be ok. And if he blows you off, that’s his problem, not yours. This society says that everyone is equal, but that’s not entirely true here, just be happy.”

 

Jake nodded, smiling a bit at Nanna.

 

“Thanks, Nanna,”

 

“No problem Jake, now if you’ll excuse me I’ll be looking at my memes,”

 

That made Jake laugh, covering his face.

 

“Do you even know what a meme is, Nanna?”

 

“It’s a funny picture,” Nanna said, sounding a little offended. “I am not so out of touch with today,”

 

“I didn’t say anything, Nanna,” Jake said as he finished laughing.

 

“I hope I got some stress out of you, and gave you a clearer mind,” Nanna said as she poked his cheek, getting up from his bed and walking to the door.

 

“Yeah, it did,” Jake said as he sighed.

 

“I’ll be making lunch soon, tell your cousin to stop visiting the beach for an hour, can’t let her starve,” Nanna said as she left.

 

Jake smiled to himself, and took a deep breath.

 

_ I think I know what I need to do. _

 

...

...

...

 

Jake texted Jade to come back for lunch, and luckily she just gave the guys their food, and was heading back.

 

When she came back, Nanna had the table set and the three of them sat around the table.

 

“Nanna, what’s up?” Jade asked.

 

“... sweetie, I’m sorry to say this...” Nanna started, and Jake and Jade knew immediately what she was gonna say.


	11. Her Safety

“You readying yourself for your girlfriend?” Dirk teasingly asked as Dave was fixing his glasses on his face.

 

“Maybe, you readying yourself for your boyfriend?”

 

Dirk staying silent.

 

“... sorry,” Dave said.

 

“It’s fine,”

 

They were silent for a moment.

 

“And I’m sorry for eating all the food yesterday,” Dave added.

 

“It’s fine, I’ll starve for you,” Dirk said.

 

“I’m also sorry about that one time I stole your sword to impress Terezi,”

 

“It’s fin - wait what?”

 

“Uh, nothing,”

 

“Dave.”

 

“... sorry,”

 

Dirk sighed, chuckling a bit, ruffling Dave’s hair. “What the hell am I gonna do with you?”

 

“THERE YOU TWO ARE!” Yelled a voice from behind them, quickly turning around to see four figures in front of them, two of which are crossing their arms in disappointment, one of which is very excited, and one of which is extremely drunk.

 

“Oh, hey Rose, Kanaya, John,” Dave said.

 

“Don’t ‘hey’ me, young man,” Kanaya snapped.

 

Kanaya was a mermaid who dealt with scalemating, and she nurses the new kids until they’re ready to leave, which made her deathly mothering. She had darker skin, short black hair that reached to her jaw, and had a tail with jade and purple scales and purple. She also had black lips and a white flower in her hair.

 

“Kanaya, dear, calm down,” Rose said as she gently put her hand on Kanaya’s shoulder.

 

Rose wasn’t a mermaid, as described before, she was a cecealia, an octopus. She was one of the witches that lived in the castle, and was responsible for making potions and such. She was very pale next to Kanaya, had blonde hair with light purple streaks that reached to her chin, had purple tentacles, and uses sea shells to cover her breasts. She, like Kanaya, had black lips and a purple flower in her hair.

 

“Dave!” John yelled as he swam over and hugged Dave.

 

John was a merman around Dave’s age witch black hair, blue eyes, tan skin, and a blue tail. However, what’s weird about him was his teeth. They were sharpened to points like piranha. And he also looked very eerily to someone else that Dave knows, he couldn’t put his finger on it.

 

“Dirk! How’re you’ve been, my buddy chum pal friend buddy pal friend buddy pal chum bud friend fella brother amigo pal buddy friend chummy chum chum pal-“ Roxy said drunkenly.

 

“Calm down there, Rox,” Dirk said as Roxy wrapped an arm around Dirk’s shoulders.

 

“Like, where have you been man?” Roxy asked and then hiccuped, giggled, and returned to her sentence. “Like, you’ve been gone for, ummm... Roses how long were they gone again?”

 

“Three weeks,” Rose said as she put a hand to her forehead. “you two were missing for three weeks. We’ve been looking for you for  _THREE_   **_FUCKING WEEKS_ ** ,”

 

“Calm your tits, Rose,” Dave said, sighing.

 

“Why did you guys leave? We were so worried about you guys!” John asked as he pulled away from Dave.

 

“It’s kinda a long story,” Dirk said as he scratched the back of his head.

 

“Wait, they need to go,” Dave said, panicking a bit.

 

“Oh fuck you’re right,” Dirk said as the two of them scanned the 4 friends.

 

“Get out,”

 

“Wha? Nah, it’s almost been a month, breh,” Roxy said, getting some of her bearings.

 

“What reason caused you two to leave??” Kanaya asked.

 

“Well-“ Dirk started before they heard shuffling from the hole.

 

“Oh well,” Dave said as Jade came in with a basket.

 

“Hey guys-“ Jade started as she stood up and looked at the pool, seeing 6 people now.

 

Four merpeople screamed bloody murder.

 

“DAVE, YOU MET A HUMAN!?” Rose yelled as she clinged into Kanaya’s arm for dear life.

 

“THAT'S SO COOL!” John yelled cheerfully.

 

“THAT IS NOT COOL, JOHN!!” Kanaya screamed as she held Rose for dear life.

 

“HOLY SHIT,” Roxy loudly said as she hid beneath the water.

 

“Oh my God-“ Jade started before Jake crawled into the cave after her.

 

“Dirk, we need to-“ Jake started before he saw the extra 4 people, who were now screaming more in utter fear.

 

“MORE HUMANS!? DAVID!!” Kanaya screamed again, her eyes practically bulging out of her head by now.

 

“Oh my God, Dirk what did you do?” Jake asked as he stared at everyone, mostly at Dirk.

 

“They were looking for us, and we didn’t have a choice-“

 

“DIRK, YOU AND DAVE KNOW TWO HUMANS!?” Roxy screamed, sounding less drunk if that was possible.

 

“WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO!?” Rose asked.

 

“YOU JUST PUT THE ENTIRE MERPEOPLE CIVILIZATION IN TROUBLE,” Kanaya said, giving the two guys death glares.

 

“Excuse me? The entire merpeople civilization may not exist because of Sea Bitch’s 9 sweeps rule,” Dave said.

 

“Can everyone calm down??” Jake said, trying to find a voice among the yelling.

 

“Yes, what Jake said,” Dirk said.

 

As everyone was talking over one another it was silent between John and Jade as looked at each other.

 

While John was thinking hard and staring at Jade, his lips pursed, Jade was blank with her mouth gaped open.

 

“John,” Jade said as her voice broke, her eyes filling up.

 

Dave took notice of this and made everyone shut up.

 

“Jade, you know John?”

 

“Jade,” John said as realization hit him in the face, and hard.

 

“JOHN!” Jade cried as she jumped into the water and crashed into John, hugging him tightly as John did the same, the water around Jde glowing.

 

“Oh my Cod,” Roxy said as she stared at the two.

 

“Are - are these two related??” Rose asked as she looked at Jake. “They look very much alike,”

 

“Jade used to have a-“ Jake said before he was also, like John, hit straight in the face with realization.

 

“... a twin,” Jake said as he stared at John.

 

“Wait, isn’t she not allowed in the water?” Dirk asked.

 

“JADE, GET OUT OF THE WATER,” Dave yelled as he quickly swam over and physically pulled her away from John, quickly carrying her onto the platform.

 

“Wait - why?” John asked.

 

“She’s the true heiress, you dumbass,” Dave said as John swam to the platform and the twins hugged again tightly.

 

“I thought you were dead,” Jade said as she cried slightly into John’s shoulder.

 

“I thought  _ you _ were dead! I thought the wave killed you!” John said as he began laughing slightly.

 

“I thought the wave killed  _ you _ !” Jade yelled.

 

“Oh God,” Jake said as he walked over to John and Jade and sat down on the edge. “what happened to you??”


	12. 11 Years Ago

Nanna was by herself in her room as she hesitantly reached for the telephone and dialed the number she wished she didn’t have to, but needed to.

 

After three rings, the phone picked up, and a voice was heard.

 

_ “You know what? I’m taking the kids to the beach, I can’t stand looking at you!” Kevin said as he was walking out of the door. _

 

_ “Fine! And when you come back I want you out of this damn house!” Jaleel yelled as Kevin walked down the stairs. _

 

_ He went to the living room where the kids were playing on the floor with blocks. _

 

_ “Hey kids!” Kevin said as he walked over to the kids. _

 

_ “Grandpa,” Jade said as she grabbed his leg and hugged him. _

 

_ “We’re gonna head to the beach, come on,” Kevin said as he bent over and hooked his hands under Jade’s arms and carried her up. _

 

“Hello,” He said.

 

“Hi Kevin,” Nanna said.

 

“... hi Jaleel,” Grandpa said on the phone.

 

“How are you?”

 

“Dying,” He said as he then started coughing away from the phone.

 

“I figured,” Nanna said, sighing.

 

“Jals, I’m sorry,” Grandpa said, regret filling his voice.

 

_ The twins were playing by the water, while Kevin and Jake were sitting in the sand, making a sand castle. _

 

_ “Now,” Kevin said as they set up a basic sand square. “to make windows, we just poke on the sides that we want to have windows,” He said as he demonstrated what her meant, making a square indent into the sand. _

 

_ “Where Nanna?” Jake asked, looking at Kevin. _

 

_ “She’s back home, Jakey,” Kevin said as he patted Jake’s head. _

 

_ “Get Nanna?” Jake asked. _

 

_ “... no Jakey,” Kevin said as he sighed, looking away. “I can’t get her back, no matter how hard I try,” _

 

_ “No like Nanna?” Jake asked, his head tilting to the side. _

 

_ “It’s a bit more complicated than that, Jake,” Kevin said, smiling to him. “I love her, but I don’t think we can’t be together anymore,” _

 

“Yeah, me too,” Nanna said, looking out the window. “what did we do to watch other, Kev?”

 

“I don’t know,” Grandpa said, sighing. “our kids are gone, John is gone, we’ll be gone soon, and all the shit I put us through didn’t even seem to matter anymore,”

 

“No, it doesn’t. There's no one to say sorry to. All they have now is how we treated each other, and how you treated Cole,”

 

_ “Hey Grandpa,” Jade said as she waddled over to the two. “where John?” _

 

_ Kevin did a double take as he stood up from the sand and looked around the area. _

 

_ “Jade, where’s your brother!?” Kevin yelled as he looked at Jade. _

 

_ “A wave,” Jade said as she pointed at the water, and Kevin ran down. _

 

“You know, I never did stop regretting the day we lost John,” Grandpa said.

 

“Me neither.”

 

“I’ll say hi from you to the kids when I see them,”

 

Nanna held back tears for a moment, grabbing a tissue from the tissue box and dabbed her eyes.

 

“Kevin,”

 

“Yes?”

 

“We were horrible together, but those children and grandchildren were the best things to come out of it, I would not take it back,”

 

“... me neither, Jals,” Grandpa said, and then breathed his last breath.

 

_ “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Harley, we couldn’t find the body,” _


	13. Family Issues

“Um... I turned into a merman!” John said, looking down on his tail.

 

“But... how?” Jake said as he looked to Dirk.

 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t know shit about magic,” Dirk said.

 

The two of them then looked at Rose.

 

“... don’t look at me, I only know how to turn merpeople into humans,” Rose said.

 

“This must be the work of the Condesce,” Kanaya said as she looked to everyone.

 

“I think I could figure out the situation if you let me,”

 

“Are you gonna go back to Alternia?” Dave asked.

 

“Yes - I believe someone we know knows, stay up here, I’ll be back,”

 

Before Kanaya went under Rose grabbed Kanaya’s arm.

 

“Be safe, love,”

 

“I will be,” Kanaya said as she leaned forward and lightly kissed Rose on the lips, and then went under.

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya swam through to Prospit and went to the castle entrance, stopped by the two guards.

 

Specifically their spears, the two of them making an X in front of the door.

 

“I’m Kanaya Maryam, I’m in charge of the scalemating and I’m the daughter of the Dolorosa, how many times do I have to say this to get through??” Kanaya asked as the guards uncrossed the door’s entrance and let her through.

 

Even though the interior was beautiful, the place being shaped from a white rock to the cracks Kanaya couldn’t help but judge the gold pillars.

 

_ Seriously, they were ugly and unsuitable, I don’t understand the Condesce’s sense of style. _

 

She swam through, looking for a certain sea princess’s room, before she hit her destination, seeing the coral and gold encrusted door.

 

She knocked, and immediately got a response.

 

“Come in!” She yelled cheerfully.

 

Kanaya came in, and was hit with a variety of pinks, greens, and blues, basically blinding Kanaya’s eyes with the vibrant colors.

 

Her eyes then went to the fuchsia bed, seeing the heiress sitting on it.

 

“Kanaya!” Feferi said as she swam up and warmly hugged Kanaya, momentarily freezing Kanaya in place before she hugged her back.

 

Feferi was, as mentioned before, is the heiress. She had a dark tan with annoyingly long blonde hair with a pink ombré. Her tail and scales were fuschia colored, as expected.

 

She was very beautiful and nice, considering she came from Her Imperious Condescension.

 

She wore a flower crown that she liked, she preferred it to her actual crown.

 

“What brings you here into my chambers?” Feferi asked as she motioned Kanaya to take a seat on her bed, which Kanaya took, Feferi sitting next to her.

 

“I needed to ask you something, your majesty,” Kanaya started.

 

“Just call me Fef for crying out loud!” Feferi said, smiling brightly.

 

Kanaya chuckled, “Fef, I need to ask you something,”

 

“What do you need?” She asked.

 

“Do you know if your mother had a child on the surface but left them behind?”

 

Feferi was silent for a moment, and then sighed.

 

“Whale... yes,” She then looked away. “a few weeks ago, during dinner, mom said how her true heiress was here, and that she was gonna get her back,”

 

“Oh,” Kanaya said, a little surprised by Feferi’s upfrontness.

 

“How do  _ you _ know about that?” Feferi asked, her eyebrow raised.

 

“Oh, it was just a rumor I heard, and it made me curious. I’m sorry about your situation,”

 

Feferi said again as she put her face in her hands.

 

“Rumors already, huh? I spent my whole life learning the politics, getting myself involved in plans, working with the board, and it all changes because of one gill who glows?”

 

It was rare that Feferi would talk about her struggles, but when she did it was hard not to feel sorry for her.

 

“I’m sorry again,” Kanaya said as she put a hand in her shoulder, comforting her.

 

Feferi looked back at Kanaya, her eyes a little red, which is kinda hard to achieve under water.

 

“Yeah, me too,” She said, still smiling but her voice breaking. “I just hope she doesn’t find her,”

 

“Hm,” Kanaya nodded.

 

She hoped that too.

 

Then there was a knock by the window, and Feferi immediately cheered up as she went by the window and opened it.

 

“Hey princess,” said a familiar voice, and Kanaya tilted her head a bit to the side.

 

“Sollux?” Kanaya called out when she saw the merman. “What are you doing here?”

 

“Oh - hi Kanaya,” Sollux said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

 

Sollux was one of the lowbloods that was born with magical abilities, which shouldn’t be a surprised, he is the son of one of the most infamous yellow bloods. He had brown hair with light gold streaks with a gold tail.

 

What was weird about him, however, was that his eyes were different colored. His right eye was fully red while his other was fully blue. And he had a lisp because his tongue was split.

 

Kanaya looked at the two, and then noticed that near the end of her tail Feferi’s scales were turning gold.

 

Kanaya’s mouth hung a little, shocked.

 

“Are you two...” She trailed off, letting her finger to the talking, and the two looking away, slightly embarrassed.

 

“Um, never mind, anyway, thanks Feferi,”

 

“Can you not tell anyone about...?” Feferi asked, gesturing between herself and Sollux.

 

“Of course,” Kanaya said as she bowed and left the room.

 

...

...

...

 

“She’s looking for her!?” Jake asked as he held Jade close.

 

“Unfortunately so, she planning on taking Jade instead of Feferi to rule,” Kanaya said, sounding a bit sad.

 

“Poor Feferi,” Rose said, pursing her lips.

 

“Jade, you  **cannot** touch this water again,” Dave said.

 

“I’m sorry, I was kinda busy with seeing my long lost twin brother,” Jade said as John climbed onto the edge and sat next to Jade.

 

“You never said you had a twin sister, John,” Kanaya stated.

 

“Well, I also didn’t talk about having legs,” John said, looking down on his tail.

 

“Why??” Rose asked.

 

“Well... I was scared,” John said, looking away awkwardly. “I didn’t know what would happen to me if I talked about it, and I didn’t remember it so well,”

 

“John,” Kanaya started, “from what we know, I think the reason you were taken was a mistake,”

 

“That would make sense,” Jake said, “I think the last time I ever saw you was-“

 

Jake stopped for a moment, thinking.

 

...

...

...

 

_ “How could you let this happen!?” Nanna yelled from the other room. _

 

_ “It was a mistake! He was in my sight and then he was just gone!” Grandpa yelled back. _

 

_ Jake and Jade were scared as to what was happening, they never heard their grandparents fight so hard, they were hugging each other tightly, with Jake trying to comfort Jade. _

 

_ “Everything ok,” He would say, “everything ok,” _

 

...

...

...

 

“Jake?” Dirk called out, bringing Jake back to reality.

 

“... I just had a flashback,” Jake said, blinking a bit as tears slightly filled his eyes.

 

“Jake,” John said as he then looked at Jake.

 

This was actually the first time John noticed Jake.

 

“Hey buddy,” Jake said as he moved over and hugged John. “sorry I forgot about you,”

 

“Eh, I forgot about you too,” John said, laughing slightly.

 

“Jeez... I’m sorry,” Jake said, sighing in disappointment.

 

“Why are you sorry?” Jade asked.

 

“I don’t know, I just feel sorry,”

 

“Don’t be! It’s not your fault I’m where I am now,” John said, patting Jake’s shoulder as Jake pulled away.

 

“Did you at least have a good life?” Jake asked.

 

“Yes, I did,” John said, smiling.

 

“Thanks to me,” Dave said, butting into the beautiful moment.

 

“Dammit Dave,” Rose said, face palming.

 

“You had one jorb, Dave!” John added.

 

“What the hell is ‘jorb’?” Dirk asked.

 

“I don’t know!”

 

“It’s like a variant of job but with an r in the word-“ Rose said before Kanaya interrupted.

 

“Rose, do you think you can make John a human?” Kanaya asked.

 

Everyone was silent for a moment before John spoke up.

 

“... would you guys want me back?” John asked.

 

“Of course!” Jade said, wrapping her arms around John’s neck.

 

“Um,” Rose said, looking to Jake and Jade. “I’m not sure if I can,”

 

“Can you try?” Dirk asked, “The kid’s got a family, he’s only had you and Dave,”

 

Rose pursed her lips.

 

“Fine. I’ll try. I’ll also try to make you and Dave one, this may be your only escape,”

 

“I kinda don’t know what's goin’ on, but, like, holy shit,” Roxy said, surprising Jade and Jake momentarily because she was so quiet.

 

“Why are you drunk?” Jake asked, and Roxy bursted out laughing.

 

“Pfft! Haha! I have no idea Jakey!” Roxy said, smiling abnormally.

 

“Because she’s sad and the only way to express it is through drinking,” Rose said as she crossed her arms.

 

“Oh my Cod, is Grandpa and Nanna ok??” John asked suddenly.

 

“Nanna’s just fine, John,” Jade said.

 

“And Grandpa?” John asked.

 

Jade looked away slightly, pursing her lips and keeping her eyes closed.

 

“John... Grandpa died,” Jake said, looking down.

 

“... what?” John asked, tears filling his eyes.

 

“... yeah,” Jade said, her voice breaking a bit.

 

“I... wow...” John said, his cheerful expression turning sad.

 

“This got depressing quick,” Dave said.

 

“Dave, hush,” Rose snapped.

 

“Actually, I think we should leave them alone,” Kanaya said, and Rose nodded.

 

“Come on everybody, under the water,”

 

“K,” Roxy said.

 

Kanaya, Rose, and Roxy ducked their heads under the water.

 

Dirk looked to Jake, silently asking if Dave and him should leave, and Jake nodded, mouthing a thank you, and Dirk nodded, sliding off the edge, and uging Dave under the water.

 

They had a bit of a staring contest before they went under the water.

 

The three remaining were silent, John still absorbing the news.

 

“Why did he die?” John finally asked.

 

“Grandpa got sick, and he didn’t want to go to the states because they’d call him out as an undocumented immigrant and send him back,” Jade said, sighing.

 

“Wait, Grandpa was illegal?” John asked.

 

“Undocumented, John,” Jake rephrased.

 

“Yeah, he was undocumented. You know his family came from Venezuela, right? He and his family left because of some reason, I’m not sure,”

 

“Oh wow...”

 

“And then he knocked up Nanna in high school,” Jake added.

 

“WHAT!?” John and Jade said at the same time.

 

“... oh yeah, you didn’t know,” Jake said as he looked to Jade.

 

“I don’t think Grandpa would be very proud to share that!” Jade said, laughing slightly.

 

“Who would be?” John asked, tilting his head.

 

“... welcome back, John,” Jade said, wrapping her arms around her brother tightly again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, we’re halfway to finishing this! Woo! Thank you all for coming with me along this ride! Let’s hope the sequel is as good lol


	14. Some Unresolved Issues

For the past few days John had been visiting Jake and Jade along to just spend some quality time together.

 

_ I mean, God knows that just after your grandfather who was essentially your father died is hard enough, finding your twin brother who was thought to be dead for oneone years on the same day is an emotional experience,  _ Jake thought to himself.

 

Though Jade seemed like she was ok, she’s been kinda taking everything quite well.

 

_ Too well _

 

During these days Dirk and Dave were there, but they didn’t really talk, they wanted to let the three catch up on missing years, though Dave sometimes butts in to make a comment.

 

“So, if you never went to school, what did you do?” Jade asked.

 

“I would just, well, hang out with my friends. That’s it,”

 

“That sounds quite boring,” Jake said.

 

“I’m cool as fuck,” Dave said as he was eating his food.

 

“Oh, shut up, Strider,” Jade said.

 

“Make me,”

 

“Ok!” Jake said as he grabbed Jade’s shoulders, keeping her from possibly attacking Dave. “Clam down - I mean calm down,” 

 

“Jake, did you just make a fish pun?” Dirk asked, smirking.

 

“I didn’t mean to-“

 

“You  **shoald** be ashamed,” Dirk said, “I’m  **conchfishcating** your fish pun privileges,”

 

Jake had a forced smile as he tried to not to get mad.

 

“That’s not a very  **roe-mantic** gesture, bro,” Dave said.

 

“Don’t be a  **basshole** ,” John joined in.

 

“ **Anchovy-hement** about fish puns,” Jade said to the guys, crossing her arms.

 

“OH NOT YOU TOO,” Jake yelled, making Jade giggle.

 

“ **Reelax** Jake,” John said.

 

**_“NO.”_ **

 

“Don’t be a little  **beach** ,” Dave said.

 

“Dave, be polite,” Dirk said, “he’s just not a  **fin** of these puns,”

 

“Oh my God, stop,” Jake said, face palming.

 

“Fine,” Dirk said, with Jade and John aw-ing in defeat and Dave’s lip turning down a bit.

 

Dirk and Jake stared at each other for a little bit before John cleared his throat.

 

“I should head back, it’s getting kinda late,” John said.

 

Jake then looked on his phone.

 

“Oh shoot, it’s 8,” Jake said as he stood up.

 

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” John said as he hugged Jade and then slid down into the water, waving one last time before diving down.

 

“I’m heading to sleep,” Dave said as he also slid down and went under water.

 

“Jake, can we talk?” Dirk asked.

 

“Jade, I’ll be following,” Jake said, and Jade nodded.

 

When Jade crawled out it was just the two of them.

 

“Who knew, huh?” Jake said as he sat next to Dirk.

 

“What?”

 

“That in a month and a half I’d meet a merman, know that merpeople exist, become friends with said merman, find out that me and my family are related to the Condesce, find how that Jade is the true heiress, and then find my long lost cousin who we thought was dead for oneone years,”

 

“Yeah, that’s quite a lot of shit,” Dirk said. “surprised you haven’t gone crazy,”

 

“I lost it quite a long time ago,” Jake said, smiling.

 

“Do you remember how a couple of days ago you came in after Jade and said you wanted to talk to me?”

 

“... oh yeah,” Jake said, chuckling a bit. “um, well... first I’m sorry if I made things weird between us-“

 

“Nah, it was my fault,” Dirk said.

 

“Listen,” Jake said as he looked at Dirk straight in the eyes - erm, where his eyes would be.

 

“I am very much inexperienced and I never liked anyone and I don’t know what to expect and I was pretty sure I’d like a girl or something but I didn’t think I’d like a guy and I’m probably reading into this more than I should-“

 

“Breathe,” Dirk interrupted, grabbing his hand.

 

“I think I like you,” Jake finally blurted out.

 

“... huh,” Dirk said, smirking a bit.

 

“... that’s it? Just a huh?” Jake asked.

 

“No,” Dirk started, moving his tail slightly and it showed splotches of green.

 

“... what’s that supposed to mean again?” Jake asked, confused.

 

“It means I like you too, you idiot,” Dirk said, chuckling a bit.

 

“... huh,”

 

“Yeah, huh,”

 

The two were silent for a moment, Jake looking down at Dirk’s hand, which was still holding his hand, Jake turning his hand to hold his back.

 

“Can... can I see your tail again?” Jake asked, and Dirk complied, lifting his tail onto the platform, Jake moving back to give him space.

 

Jake never actually seen Dirk’s full tail out onto land, and it a lot bigger than he thought.

 

He stared at his tail, and started to admire the scales and its colors, his tail still prominently orange, but was clashing with the green, a similar green to Jake’s eyes.

 

“Your tail is beautiful,” Jake said, awkwardly looking at Dirk.

 

Dirk showed no emotion, but invisible dimples started to show.

 

“Do you want to touch my tail?” Dirk asked.

 

“Would - would that be ok?” Jake asked, Dirk taking Jake’s hand and hovering over his tail.

 

“Yes,” Dirk said, and Jake lightly touched his tail, where his knees would’ve been if he had legs, his fingers gently dragging across the scales, and to where the green was showing up.

 

“... why do you like me?” Jake asked.

 

“How could I not?” Dirk asked back.

 

Jake scoffed, smiling as he looked at the water.

 

“Why do  _ you _ like  _ me _ ?” Dirk asked.

 

“... how could I not?” Jake asked, smirking as he looks back at Dirk.

 

The two were silent before Dirk moved closer to Jake, gently placing a hand on Jake’s neck as he leaned in, Jake stopping Dirk a few inches away, his hand on Dirk’s shoulder.

 

“This... this is kinda my first kiss,”

 

“Kinda?” Dirk asked, his head tilting to the side.

 

“Well, when I was in elementary school we were doing a play and I was Romeo and I was supposed to just hug the girl who played Juliet but then I thought it would be more mature to actually kiss her-“

 

“Jake,” Dirk said, shutting Jake up successfully. “do you want this?”

 

“... yeah,” Jake said, and the two closed the distance, their lips an inch away.

 

“Jake, is everything ok there??” Jade called out, and Jake pulled away, the two of them sighing, chuckling a little.

 

“Goodnight, Strider,” Jake said as he kissed Dirk’s cheek, hugging him, getting up from his spot and walked away, looking back at Dirk as he did the same, but with the water.

 

“Goodnight, English,” Dirk said as Jake crawled out.

 

_ So. Fucking. Close. _


	15. Finally

For the past couple of days, it was different and awkward between Dirk and Jake.

 

Mostly because Dave and Jade were there, and also they didn’t really know what they should do after they almost kissed kiss.

 

_ Does this mean we’re dating? _

 

"Jake."

 

_ And even if we were, how would we work out? He's a bloody fish! _

 

"Jake?"

 

_ And even if we were to figure this sort of thing out how the fucking hell- _

 

"JAKE!"

 

Jake jumped slightly in shock as he looked over to see Jade looking at him weird.

 

They were walking over to the cave again, again with food. A lot more food actually, those boys are hungry as hell.

 

"Wh-what??"

 

"Are you ok? You've been spacing out a lot," Jade asked as they were getting close to the cave.

 

"Um, yeah! Just, ya know, life and shit,"

 

Jade's tilting her head sideways at Jake as they stopped in front of the cave.

 

"... I was reading a book,"

 

"... Really?" Jade asked, her eyebrow raised in an arch.

 

"... A really good book," Jake said, his collar sweating.

 

"Jake, stop watching porn,"

 

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK I WATCH PORN?!"

 

"BECAUSE YOU'RE A GUY!"

 

"THATS SEXIST!"

 

"IT'S SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN!"

 

Jake stuttered as he choked a bit, thinking he was not gonna go down this ship again.

 

"WELL, GIRLS WATCH PORN TOO!"

 

"WELL DUH, I DO!"

 

"YOU'RE FIFTEEN, WHY ARE YOU WATCHING PORN?!"

 

As they were having this argument they each crawled into the cave, still arguing vehemently, their voices echoing around the walls.

 

"BECAUSE WHY NOT?!"

 

"JADE YOU'RE NOT EVEN LEGAL!"

 

"I WAS BORN HERE, DAMMIT!"

 

“I MEANT YOUR AGE!”

 

"What the fuck," Dave said as he looked up from the water, seeing Jade and Jake inside the cave now, still arguing until Dave spoke.

 

Dave was the only one, sitting on the edge as he fiddled with his scales.

 

"Hey Dave!" Jade said, quickly moving over and hugging him around his bare shoulders.

 

"Hi - whoa-!" Dave was slow to finally return the hug, thinking it felt weird touching dry clothes, now really feeling it.

 

"Where's John?" Jake asked.

 

"Oh, he's with Rose, she's making the human transformation potion thing,"

 

"Oh wow, they got all the ingredients?" Jade asked as she pulled away.

 

During the days after John was found Rose has been trying to collect the ingredients to turn John back into a human.

 

“She became a super spy, getting everything in secret,” John would say, making it sound more dramatic than it actually is.

 

“Yep, should be finished soon,”

 

“Where’s Dirk?” Jake asked as he slightly hovered over the water to see the orange tailed beauty,

 

“Oh, he needed to get something, he’ll be back soon,”

 

Jake nodded, feeling a little disappointed.

 

“Don’t worry, your true love will come back~” Jade teasingly said as she stopped hugged Dave, poking Jake’s cheek.

 

Jake blushed a bit as he started to head to the exit.

 

“I’m gonna head out,”

 

“Kk,” Jade said as she sat cross legged in front of Dave.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake was pacing a bit outside the cave in front of the waves.

 

“Dear God...” He said as he continued to have his internal battles.

 

_ What if he thought he liked me but he actually doesn’t? _

 

_ Oh shut up English, he wouldn’t have almost kissed you otherwise, he’s not a asshole _

 

_ He could be! _

 

_ He’s not _

 

_ Alright he’s not, but he could be! _

 

_ *facepalms* _

 

“Jake,” Said a voice, and Jake looked off to the sea to see Dirk in the water.

 

“Dirk! What are you doing!?”

 

“Hanging around,” Dirk said as he casually splashed the water.

 

“SOMEONE COULD SEE YOU GO BACK IN THE CAVE,”

 

“Get in the water with me,” He said, crossing his arms.

 

“Wh-what?” Jake asked as he looked at the water.

 

It shouldn’t be cold, it was more hot than usual.

 

“Get in the water with me,” Dirk said again.

 

“Wh-why?”

 

“I wanna talk to you,” He said.

 

“... fine, if you go back in the cave,”

 

“I’ll go back in the cave after we talk,”

 

Jake was getting a bit pissed off as he bit his lip and sighed through his nose.

 

“Fine,”

 

Jake took off his clothes, leaving him in his bathing suit which he started to wear under his clothes when he came here.

 

Jake walked into the water, shivered a bit, and then continued walking until it was to his waist, bending his knees to Dirk’s level.

 

“Hi,” Dirk said, smirking.

 

“Strider, what do you want?” Jake asked as he crossed his arms.

 

“To talk.”

 

“About what?”

 

“Us. Duh. We almost kissed.”

 

Jake looked away awkwardly. “Yeah, we did.”

 

“So... what are we now?” Dirk asked.

 

“I... don’t know, Dirk,” Jake said as he sighed.

 

“Well fuck.”

 

“How would we work out, Dirk?” Jake asked, sighing. “You’re a merman, I’m a human, and I’m pretty sure that’s incredibly hard to keep an interspecies relationship, and you’re almost eighteen.”

 

Dirk sighed as he combed his fingers through his hair, looking down at the water.

 

“I don’t know.”

 

The two were silent before Jake covered his face. “This is harder than I thought,” Jake said as he chuckled a bit.

 

Dirk hesitantly put his hand on Jake’s shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

 

“Yeah...”

 

They were silent againt before Dirk spoke again.

 

“I’m sorry. We don’t have to talk about this, we can just be friends-“

 

“How?” Jake asked, looking back up at Dirk. “How can we even go back?”

 

“If we try hard enough?” Dirk sighed again.

 

"I don't know, I never dated anyone either,"

 

"That is surprising," Jake said as he chuckled a bit.

 

"I know."

 

The two were silent before someone yelled out "Jake! Dirk!"

 

They turned their heads to see Jade waving at them.

 

"Oh, hey Jade," Dirk called out.

 

"Someone's coming!" Jade yelled as she pointed to the far end of the beach.

 

Dirk quickly went underwater as swam away to the cave as Jake swam back onto land.

 

As Jake came onto land, he saw who was coming.

 

"English!" Ryan yelled as he and a couple of guys were with him.

 

"Jade, let's go," Jake said as he grabbed his clothes.

 

"Wait, why?" Jade asked, confused.

 

Ryan and his guy friends were now in front of Jake and Jade.

 

"Who’s this?” Ryan asked as he looked at Jade.

 

Jake instinctively wrapped an arm around Jade and pulled her close to his side, “She’s my cousin, we were just leaving,”

 

“Aw, we came because we saw you here, don’t tell me we just wasted our time!” Ryan said as he smirked, and looked behind them. “The hell is that thing your cousin came out of?”

 

Jake and Jade looked at each other before Jade answered. “It’s our secret hideout, no one’s allowed,”

 

Ryan and his friend snickered as her, Ryan saying “A secret hideout? What are you guys, eight?”

 

“Jealous much?” Jade asked as she crossed her arms.

 

Ryan’s expression dampened a bit as he walked over and pushed aside Jake and Jade to walk through.

 

“Hey, you can’t go in there!” Jade started as she ran, passing Ryan.

 

Ryan, however, grabbed Jade by her arms and forced her back.

 

“What the fuck, let go of her!” Jake yelled as he quickly over and grabbed Ryan, however the guys behind Jake grabbed him and held him back.

 

Jade then quickly turned around and knee kicked Ryan in the crotch.

 

“GAH, FUCKING HELL!” Ryan yelled as he descended to the ground as he held his crotch. “FUCKING BITCH!” He yelled as Jade quickly ran to the cave.

 

Jake then struggled and jumped around widely in the guys’s grip until he successfully got out, quickly running away to the cave.

 

...

...

..

 

Jake saw only Jade when he got into the cave.

 

“I told them to hide,” Jade said as she breathed somewhat heavily.

 

“Are you ok??” Jake asked as he put his hands on Jade’s shoulders, looking down her arms to see bruises where Ryan grabbed her.

 

_ What... the...  _ **_FUCK_ **

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, you?”

 

“I’m pissed off, that’s for sure,” Jake said, gritting his teeth a bit as his eyes lingered on the bruises.

 

Jade then notices where he’s staring at.

 

“Don’t worry, Jake,” Jade said, catching his eyes. “I kneed him pretty hard in the crotch, I doubt he’ll have kids now,”

 

Jake coughed, laughing a bit as he petted Jade’s head.

 

“Let’s go home,”

 

...

...

...

 

During the night, the guys and Ryan came back to Plum Beach, spray cans in hand.

 

“Stupid bitch,” Ryan said to himself, as he crawled into the hole of the cave, along with the guys.

 

“Ya know,” One of the guys said as they were all in. “we don’t really need o do this,”

 

“What, you’re pussying out now?” Ryan asked as he looked around. “That cousin of the British cunt kicked me in the dick, they’re not gonna get away that easy,” He said as he shook his spray can and looked at the nearest wall.

 

Suddenly, the water glowed a red color.

 

“What the hell?” One of the guys said as they looked over at the water. “Why is it red?”

 

“Maybe it’s some sort of ocean thing that happens once in a blue moon,” Ryan said, somewhat shaken by the red glow as he readied his spray can.

 

“That shit only happens in  _ Avatar: The Last Airbender,  _ and that was when the moon spirit was killed and Princess Yue became the new moon spirit in  _ The Siege of the North Part two _ in season one!” One guy said as he was backed to a wall.

 

“Weeb,” Another guy said, scoffing.

 

“ _ Avatar _ isn’t an anime you idiot, it wasn’t made in Japan,” Said the first other guy.

 

“Actually the nationality shouldn’t matter because it’s the art style that’s important-“ Said another other guy before he was cut off.

 

Because the water itself rose up, like a sleeping snake and was disturbed. It was like it was being bended, water bended.

 

The guys were shocked, their mouths hanging open and their eyes bulging out of their skulls, as they stared at red glowing water, now looking even more scary, and probably mad.

 

“LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!” Said one of the guys.

 

“DON'T NEED TO TELL ME TWICE!” Ryan said as he first ran to the exit, the guys yelling at one another to hurry up, and then they all escaped.

 

Dave peaked his head out as he snickered, Dirk coming up as well.

 

“I see what you did there,” Dirk said as he slightly scolded Dave.

 

“What? Those assholes would’ve trashed the place. And didn’t you see those bruise marks on Jade?”

 

Dirk stayed silent.

 

“They could’ve done worse to Jake cuz he’s a guy,”

 

“ **_I know,_ ** ” Dirk said through gritted teeth.

 

“Oh, you’re a lot madder than I thought,” Dave said as he backed away from Dirk.

 

“Yep.”


	16. Rumor Has It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey yall, I’m sorry for not updating yesterday, here it is! Also, if you noticed I edited the chapter names, I didn’t like how busy it looked so I fixed it up. If you noticed that two chapter had switched places it was some glitch, though I don’t think it’s too bad, I kinda like it in that new order. Enjoy this new chapter!

The day after last time, Jake and Jade were driving into town.

 

“Should we give them phones?” Jade asked Jake as he was driving.

 

She and him were running some errands for Nanna, which were rare, since she usually get them herself.

 

“What?”

 

“Like, you know, in case they need to call us for something,”

 

“They live in the water,” Jake said blankly.

 

“There is such a thing as waterproof phones,” Jade said as Jake parked outside the market.

 

“That costs a lot of money,” Jake said as he and Jade exited the car.

 

“Grandpa has a lot of money,” Jade said.

 

Jade sounded normal when she said Grandpa’s name, as if he was still alive.

 

Jake decided not to press further, “We’ll discuss it more later,” he said.

 

“Shouldn’t you be at work or something?”

 

“Eh, Jane’s grandmother isn’t doing so well, she closed down the bakery and she’s staying home.”

 

“Is Jane ok?”

 

“Yeah, well, yeah she is,”

 

“I think she likes you,”

 

As the two talked they walked into the store and grabbed a basket, going over to the fruit section.

 

“What? Oh no she doesn’t,”

 

“How do you know that?”

 

“When I had a crush on her I asked her if she liked me, and she said no.”

 

“You know, a lot of girls say no because they’re afraid of rejection,” Jade said, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

 

“But I told her that I had a crush on her, she said she didn't like me,”

 

“... yeah, you’re in the clearing.” Jade said, chuckling as she grabbed a couple of apples and put them in the plastic bag, putting them in the basket.

 

“Yeesh, girls and games,” Jake said, looking at the lost of food needed.

 

“Mind games man,”

 

“Luckily you don’t play mind games, grab some pears by the way,”

 

“You don’t know that,” Jade said, grabbing some pears.

 

Jake looked over at Jade as she dropped the bag full of pears in the basket.

 

“... what?”

 

Jake then stared at Jade.

 

“Whaaaaaat?” Jade asked, smirking.

 

They were minding their own business, laughing amongst themselves, when they heard some people whispering and giggling, catching Jake and Jade’s attention.

 

They turned around to see a group of teenagers looking at them before they quickly turned away.

 

“What was that?” Jake asked.

 

“Teenagers, duh,”

 

He recognized them, they were from his school. It was very, very rare he’d see them outside of school grounds.

 

“Wow, this is the most people I’ve seen,” Jade said before she called out “HEY!” and said group of teenagers ran away, laughing.

 

Jake and Jade looked at each other before shrugging and went back to business.

 

...

...

...

 

The cousins came back to their house and gave Nanna her things before they went to visit Dirk and Dave.

 

They already gave them food earlier, but they just wanted to hang out with them, since now Jake has more time to kill.

 

When they saw the crowd of teenagers around the rock, they quickly ran and saw that Ryan was in front of said teenagers.

 

“Now, we’re all here to see the most supernatural thing ever,” Ryan said.

 

“I thought we were called here to talk about saving the environment,” One girl said.

 

“This is stupid, I’m out of here,” Said one girl, and about half of the crowd followed along.

 

“Hey! This is serious!” Ryan yelled as another guy popped in.

 

“Yeah! The water was, like, bended, from Avatar!”

 

“Avatar? _Avatar: The Last Airbender_?” A girl asked as she turned around to look for the same guy.

 

“Yeah! It’s my favorite show,” The guy said.

 

“It’s mine too!” The girl said excitedly.

 

“My favorite episode is _The Avatar And The Firelord_ from-“

 

And at the same time, they said “season 3 episode 6” and then they looked at each other more.

 

“My name is Noah,” The guy, Noah, said.

 

“My name’s Abby,” The girl, Abby, said.

 

“I SHIP IT!” Another girl yelled.

 

“GO BE NERDS SOMEWHERE ELSE!” Ryan yelled.

 

“What are you doing here!?” Jade yelled as she walked through the crowd and faced Ryan.

 

“Jake!” Said a voice, Jake recognitized the voice.

 

“Jane?” His eyes scanned the crowd as he saw Jane looking at him.

 

Jane quickly went through and got to him.

 

“What are you doing here?” Jake asked, holding her hands.

 

“Ah! You two! You guys come here all the time, tell them about that freaky water stuff!”

 

“What freaky water stuff?” Jake asked as he and Jane walked up next to Jade and crossed his arms.

 

“Are you seriously trying to say nothing magical happened in there??” Ryan asked.

 

“Ryan, you’re acting crazy,” Said a girl that Jake knew, Lily.

 

“I bet the only magical stuff that happened in there is incest,” Said one girl, and a few of them giggled.

 

“Ew,” Jake said as he looked to the group of teenagers whom he recognized from the market.

 

“You guys are just bored,” Jane said condescendingly, crossing her arms.

 

“Well, Ryan said it,” Said a girl from the group.

 

“Ok, everyone get out!” Lily said, her voice booming as most students started to walk away quickly in fear.

 

The only ones left were Jake, Jade, Jane, Lily, Ryan, and those two Avatar nerds who weren’t really paying attention and were just chatting amongst themselves.

 

“Ryan, I swear to God if you don’t shut up about this I’m going to my dad,”

 

“You really are some bratty little girl, having the principal be your dad,” Ryan said, scoffing.

 

“You’re just salty cuz I turned to him after you knocked me up!”

 

“You said you were on birth control!”

 

“And I trusted you brought a fucking condom!”

 

“I didn’t know she had a baby,” Jake said to Jade.

 

“You know her?” Jade asked.

 

“Yeah, she’s a girl I hang out with sometimes,”

 

“How do you not know she has a baby??” Jane asked, looking at Jake confusingly.

 

“Well sorry, I don’t go around very often!”

 

“Jeez, calm down,” Jane said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“I’m still waiting for some child support!” Lily yelled.

 

“Bitch I’m seventeen!”

 

“That’s no excuse! I’m raising this kid by myself!”

 

“I’m just gonna go back home... talk to you guys later...” Jane said, backed away slowly until she was far enough to just walk normally away.

 

Jake and Jade then awkwardly walked around the two as they crawled into the cave.

 

“... maybe we should get them phones,” Jake said, looking to Jade.

 

“Told you~” Jade said, smirking.

 

Jake, however, couldn’t get rid of the feeling of needing to see Dirk...

 

...

...

...

 

Jake went back to the beach at night, the cold air hitting his face, arms, and legs, crawling into the cave to see no one again, but saw a glowing red.

 

“I guess that’s Dave,” Jake said as he peaked over the edge to see a watery form, the red prominent.

 

What Jake couldn’t get was why he couldn’t find Dirk.

 

He then decided to leave, exiting the cave and was a few steps away before he saw orange light illuminating in the water, and Dirk was at the shore, on his stomach as he looked up at Jake.

 

“Dirk?”

 

“Who else?”

 

Jake rolled his eyes before he walked closer to Dirk, “Where you you,” Jake asked as he crouched down.

 

Dirk looked at Jake for a moment before grabbing his collar and pulled him, his arms wrapped around his shoulders.

 

Jake was very surprised, but his body had a mind of its own, his hands as well as he got down onto his knees and held Dirk, hugging him back.

 

Before anything could continue, Dirk pulled away.

 

“I don’t care anymore, Jake,”

 

“Wha-what?”

 

“I want to be with you, and I’m gonna do whatever it takes,”

 

“Dirk, I-“ Jake started before Dirk pulled him close, their faces an inch away.

 

“Jake, do you want this?”

 

Jake said nothing, and thought more about it.

 

Did he want Dirk?

 

“Of course.” Jake said, and the two closed the distance, their lips finally meeting.

 

Also their noses.

 

“Jake, tilt your head to the side,” Dirk said, smirking as he pulled away.

 

“Oh, sorry-!“ Jake said before Dirk drove right back into the kiss, surprising Jake before he melted into the kiss, Jake snaking his arm around Dirk’s neck and pulled him closer.

 

Dirk then pulled away gently, the two of them looking at each other before leaning in again

 

The kiss was a bit awkward, since Jake has never actually kissed anyone, but if making out with the walls of cerulean babes say otherwise he wasn’t uncoordinated.

 

Dirk’s tongue slipped between Jake’s lips, asking for permission to pass, and Jake granting him so.

 

As their tongues fought a bit Jake’s hand went up Dirk’s tail and pulled him closer to Jake’s lap.

 

Dirk’s hands went to Jake’s sides, holding him close before Jake pulled away, the both of them panting a bit.

 

“Jesus,” Jake said, chuckling a bit.

 

“Whatever that means, Jesus as well,” Dirk said, gently leaning back in to kiss Jake’s cheek.

 

Jake redirected his lips back onto his, the kiss more passionate and forceful as their bodies were pulled closer to one another.

 

They then pulled away, out of breath quickly.

 

“Wow, English,” Dirk said, chuckling as he looked up at Jake, his face as flushed as his.

 

“Do you wanna just hang out here for a while and just talk and make out?” Jake asked.

 

“Are you asking me on a date, Jake?” Dirk asked, smirking.

 

“Is that bad?”

 

“No.” Dirk said, kissing Jake’s cheek. “It sounds perfect.”

 

...

...

...

 

Jake would come home at five in the morning feeling rather tired and stiff while having sand in places he didn’t think could be.


	17. Missing

“Rose? Darling, are you in there? It’s dinner time,” Kanaya asked as she knocked on Rose’s study.

 

She heard nothing, and assumed her matesprite fell asleep during work again.

 

“My dear, you need to stop-“ Kanaya started as she opened the door, but didn’t see Rose.

 

“... Rose?”

 

Kanaya looked around, a little frantically, seeing her walls covered in shelves full of books and potions, until she saw the window.

 

It was open.

 

Kanaya quickly swam through it, seeing if Rose was there.

 

“Rose?? Where are you??”

 

Kanaya turned back, and saw a note that was taped underneath the windowsill.

 

“She’ll be joining the games.

-Your Imperial Condescension”

 

...

...

...

 

Jake was asleep throughout the afternoon, since exhaustion hit him like a bitch.

 

“Jaaaaake, we gotta go feed to boys,” Jade said as she shook Jake’s shoulder.

 

“Go without me. Dead.” Jake said as he semi lifted his head, and then dropped it into his pillow.

 

“Wow, I guess the sex makes you really tired, ok, bye Jake~!” Jade said cheerfully as she patted the back of Jake’s head and soon enough he heard her close his door.

 

_ Finally, peace and qui- _

 

_ Wait, did she say- _

 

_ WAIT, WHAT!? _

 

Jake immediately jumped out of bed, ran out of his bedroom, and raced down the stairs to catch Jade.

 

“What did you say!?” Jake loudly whispered. “What makes you think I had sex with Dirk!?”

 

“I mean, it’s kinda obvious, you came home at five in the morning and your arms and back are scratched, and your have some bite marks and hickies on your neck,”

 

Jake immediately looked down his arms, seeing the tint lines of redness, and then covered his neck with her hands quickly and embarrassingly.

 

“Why do you know this stuff!?”

 

“The internet, duh. Do you think I just spend my time looking for frogs and furry stuff?”

 

“... kinda?”

 

“Jake.”

 

“What exactly do you do?” Jake asked.

 

“Well, I help Grandpa with a lot of his science stuff and I do some experiments and I dress up- wait, you’re distracting me about the fact that you had sex!”

 

“SHHH! DON'T SAY THAT SO LOUDLY, I DIDNT HAVE SEX!” Jake yelled quietly, waving his hands frantically to signal Jade to shut up.

 

“How was it? How  _ did _ you do it??” Jade asked.

 

“Jade, I didn’t have sex with Dirk, we just talked for a while and made out!”

 

“... NANNA!” Jade yelled.

 

“JADE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

 

“There’s a thing called blackmail, NANNA!”

 

“Yes dear?” Nanna called out.

 

“OK FINE I’LL TELL YOU!” Jake yelled, giving up.

 

“I LOVE YOU,” Jade yelled to Nanna.

 

“I love you too, dearest,” They heard Nanna call back lovingly.

 

Jake sighed and looked down at Jade with a look.

 

“You really can act like such an evil bitch,” Jake said, sounding slightly impressed but still upset.

 

“Well, Dave did say the fuschia bloods act kinda bitchy, we are descendants from them,”

 

“True. I was being honest though, but I’ll tell you how merpeople have sex. Don’t tell Dirk,”

 

“I solemnly swear on my mother’s grave,” Jade said, crossing her chest where her heart was with her finger.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake regretted everything.

 

After he explained to Jade how merpeople had sex they went to give the boys food and she started asking a bunch of questions and making contentions to other aquatic animals.

 

Jade was just talking on and on, she even brought out a notebook she’s been taking on merfolk, and Dirk was patiently listening while Jake was dying in the background and Dave was eating popcorn.

 

“-and yeah.” Jade said finally.

 

Dirk nodded to himself a couple times before he spoke. He had his sword on his back with the strap across his chest.

 

“Interesting. That explains why you humans wear clothes, it would probably be weird walking around with their bulges hanging out,”

 

“And what about mermaids?”

 

“They’re the same for mermen, but they’re covered by stretchy scales so that water doesn’t get it. I heard it’s not very comfortable having water inside it,”

 

“It’s not,”

 

“JADE!” Jake yelled in shock.

 

“Jake I’m not eight!” Jade yelled back.

 

“But how-“

 

“She’s a girl, and she swims,” Dave said.

 

Jake was now begging for death internally as he turned red from embarrassment. Hearing his baby cousin talk like this was just-

 

“Jake, it’s ok,” Dirk said, smirking. “it’s a normal part of life,”

 

“I’m just gonna head home, I cannot take this,” Jake said as he crawled out of the cave.

 

“Bye Jake!” Jade called out as he left the cave.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake was left in a confused state as he laid in his bed, thinking.

 

_ What exactly do we do now? I mean, we talked all night, and we kissed a lot... what now? _

 

_ What would Dirk say? _

 

Jake thought for a moment and sat up, and cleared his throat.

 

He then spoke in a deeper tone and a failed American accent, saying “I’m Dirk Strider, I’m a super hot merman and I gonna insinuate I had sex with my British boyfriend Jake who I am totally dating,”

 

Jake chuckled a bit to himself, and sighed.

 

“No, he’s too cool for that... unless he’s like Dave and says that ironically,”

 

Jake grumbled and laid back down, the moments of last night replaying in his head.

 

He was a lot heavier than he thought, well, the tail was, when he was on top of him.

 

Jake blushed at the thought ‘when he was on top of him’ and then sighed, covering his face.

 

“Argh, I sound like such a virgin,” Jake said.

 

_ AND I AM A VIRGIN _

 

Jake just mentally gave up as he sighed again.

 

_ Why didn’t I date someone before Dirk?? Maybe that’ll give me a clue on what to do, being this confused is a headache _

 

_ Fuck, is dating really  _ _ this _ _ complicated?? _

 

Maybe he should’ve stayed with them and talk to Dirk privately afterwards, but even then what would he say?

 

Jake then thought about it seriously.

 

_... you know what? Enough’s enough. _

 

Jake was now suddenly mad. He was so confused with everything while Dirk looked like he knows life’s answers.

 

Jake sat up in his bed and grabbed his glasses.

 

“No more tomfoolery, I am going to march down there and stop complaining!”

 

...

...

...

 

“So, are you and Jake dating?” Jade asked.

 

“Well, we’re gonna try,” Dirk said, scratching the back of his head.

 

“I’m actually kinda confused as to where we gonna head exactly. I mean, he has a point, I’m a merman, he’s a human, and not only that, but I’m gonna die soon... and I don’t want to make him sad.”

 

“Maybe you two need to communicate more on that.” Jade suggested.

 

“How would you know, you never dated anyone.” Dave said, sounding a bit bitter.

 

“I have a lot of access to several places,” Jade said absentmindedly.

 

“It’s not my fault I’m a lowblood,” Dave said, muttering under his breath.

 

“I never said so,”

 

“I wish he didn’t leave, we could’ve talked afterward,” Dirk said, ignore the two’s bickering.

 

“Well, maybe he’ll come back later-“

 

Suddenly, someone popped out from under the water, and it was not human.

 

“hElLo MoThEr FuCkErS.”


	18. Chapter 18

Jake marched down out of the house, onto the sidewalk, onto Pearl Beach, walked for fifteen minutes straight without stopping, and was on Plum Beach.

 

_ I’m going to get my answers if it’s the last-! _

 

Jake stopped as Jade ran out, looking drenched and extremely panicked.

 

“Jade!?” Jake yelled as he ran to Jade.

 

“Jake!” Jade yelled as she ran over to Jake fast.

 

“What happened??”

 

“Some weird merman just came out of nowhere, and he had this giant club-“

 

“What happened to the boys??”

 

“Dave’s fine, Dirk-“

 

Jake didn’t stay for the rest of the conversation, he ran pass Jade and quickly slid through the entrance, seeing Dave on the ground, looking frantically in the water, which for some reason was in a cloud of purple.

 

He noticed his shoulder was bleeding, five streams of blood coming down mixing with the water.

 

His shades were gone, and Jake could see the fiery red that reminded him of Dirk.

 

“Where’s Dirk!?” Jake asked, hearing Jade crawling through the entrance.

 

...

...

...

 

_ “... Gamzee...” Dave started, raising his hands, showing nothing. _

 

_ “Why hello there, fish whore,” The scary merman, Gamzee, said. “how’s screwing my girl?” _

 

_ Gamzee Makara, Jade remembered his name. He was the guy that was now dating Dave’s ex, Terezi. He had a terrifying expression that added to the three scars across his face. His hair was a mess, and his tail was purple, fully purple. He had a smile glued onto his face, his teeth were showing, and they were long and pointed. _

 

_ His voice, however, scared the ever living crap out of Jade. It was so scratchy and low, yet it was booming loud. _

 

_ “Gamzee, we broke up a long time ago-“ _

 

_ “Her tail is still motherfucking RED!” Gamzee yelled, his voice echoing the walls. _

 

_ Jade squealed, shaking a bit, and her voice caused Gamzee to look at her. _

 

_ “A mother fucking human, huh?” Gamzee said as he swam close to her. _

 

_ Dave quickly swam in front of him as Dirk forced Jade behind her. _

 

_ Gamzee laughed as he grabbed Dave’s shoulder, his nails digging into Dave’s shoulder so hard it was drawing blood and he tossed him aside, like he was a rag doll in water. _

 

_ Gamzee then sat next to Dirk. _

 

_ “I think you know my brother, brother,” Gamzee said as he put a hand on Dirk’s shoulder, before forcing him off the edge and into the water. _

 

_ Jade was about to get up and run but the subjuggular grabbed her ankle and pulled her back, making her fall and get closer to him. _

 

_ “GAH!” Jade screamed as Gamzee grabbed her face and looked into her eyes. _

 

_ His eyes were bloodshot red and black, searching through her green eyes. _

 

_ “You’re so scared... what a cute little thing...” He then started laughing more. “I don’t think I ever had a human in my paint collection before~” _

 

_ “Stay the fuck away from her!” Dave yelled as he shot his hand up and the water under Gamzee came up, the water throwing Gamzee up to the rocky ceiling. _

 

_ However, Jade was also brought along because of Gamzee’s grip on her face, the two of them hitting the ceiling. _

 

_ Gamzee fell into the water with a large splash, with Jade hitting the ground hard. _

 

_ “Gah...” She cried out as she held herself, and accidentally rolled into the water, sinking as the glow shined out. _

 

_ “Oh fuck.” _

 

_ “Goddammit Dave.” Dirk said, slapping his forehead. _

 

_ The two blondes dove underwater and Dave quickly swam to Jade while Dirk pulled out his sword and looked at Gamzee, who quickly regained consciousness. _

 

...

...

...

 

_ Dave quickly brought Jade back on the surface, carrying her onto the platform. _

 

_ Dave quickly sat on the edge as he checked her body, seeing if there were anything wrong, wounds or broken bones. _

 

_ The only thing that was wrong was that the back of her head was bleeding. Her head must’ve hit the ceiling when Dave threw them up. _

 

_ “Fuck, Jade!” He yelled, shaking her shoulder. _

 

_ She was unresponsive. _

 

_ “Goddammit Harley,” Dave said as he held her head, trying to think about what to do next. _

 

_ “Gaaaah!” Dave grumbled as he looked around. _

 

_ “... this is a stupid idea,” He said as he bent over her and kissed her lips. _

 

_ Immediately she shoved him off her, causing Dave to fall back into the water as Jade sat up, holding her head as she looked in the water. _

 

_ “The fuck, Dave!?” _

 

_ Dave resurfaced and looked at Jade, his shades off. _

 

_ “Why the EVER LIVING FUCK did you think it would be a good idea to kiss me!?” _

 

_ “I saw Ariel do it! I was panicking!”  _

 

_ “She didn’t kiss Eric until the end, Dave!” _

 

_ “Well, maybe this is the end!” Dave yelled, scaring Jade a bit, causing her to scoot away from Dave. _

 

_ Dave saw this and looked at himself for a moment; he kissed her when she was unconscious and he yelled at her while she’s still injured. _

 

_ “Jade I... I’m sorry,” Dave said, sighing as he brushed his hair back. _

 

_ Before Jade could say anything purple blood dyed the water. _

 

_ Jade and Dave were silent as they stared at the water. _

 

_ “Get Jake.” _

 

...

...

...

 

“I don’t know where Dirk is, he didn’t come up yet,” Jade said, looking frantically im the water.

 

“What do you mean!?”

 

“Someone came, he threatened to kill Jade, I freaked out and went Katara on him, and Dirk and him are underwater,” Dave said, his eyes glued to the water.

 

Jake didn’t think twice, he took off his shoes and jumped in.

 

...

...

...

 

Dirk was hiding as the purple blood spread throughout the water underneath.

 

He fucked everything up for the worst.

 

He lost his sword the moment he struck the jugular in the chest.

 

_ He looked at me... and the light just went away. _

 

Dirk looked as the body was floating around, memories flooding his head, the senses coming back to him.

 

_ “Just do it, Dirk! Take care of your brother, everything is going to be fine,” _

 

_ “But dad-“ _

 

_ “Dirk, trust me,” He said as he angled the tip of the sword to his chest. “go through, and don’t stop.” _

 

_ “... dad...” Dirk was crying, his entire body shaking as orange was spreading through the layers of water. _

 

_ “Don’t cry,” He said, his arm reaching out and cupping Dirk’s face. “it’s all going to be _

 

Dirk heard a splash and looked up, his sight now blinded that the purple has become an ink storm.

 

Dirk swam up through the water, and he was now face to face with Jake.

 

_ Oh Jake... _

 

He looked so confused, his chest elevated, indicating he was holding his breath.

 

They both took a moment to look at each other, as if communicating.

 

Dirk stared at Jake’s face, keeping the mental image of him, his dark tan skin, his ink black hair in the water, his vibrant green eyes. Everything.

 

Jake placed a hand against Dirk’s cheek, searching through his orange eyes, asking what’s going on.

 

Dirk pulled Jake close and kissed him deeply, remember the taste of his mouth and tongue, before pulling away and chuckling at Jake’s extremely confused and worried face.

 

Dirk then said three words to him, not knowing if Jake could hear him, before he swam away, grabbing the floating body with him, heading back to Alternia.

 

...

...

...

 

Jake stared after Dirk, the air bubble he was holding escaping as Dirk’s words echoed in his head.


	19. His Imprisonment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY I STARTED SCHOOL ON FRIDAY PLEASE ENJOY

“Where is he going!?” Jake asked Dave as Jade was patching his shoulder up with some bandages.

 

“I don’t want to be right... but I think he’s gonna turn himself in.” Dave said, continuing to stare at the water.

 

“Turn himself in??” Jade asked, pausing her work.

 

“Knowing him, he’s gonna use this as a distraction so that I can escape.” Dave said, his face still unmoving and his tone unchanged.

 

“Why are you just acting that way!?” Jake asked, so confused by Dave’s lack of emotion.

 

“Jake-“ Jade started.

 

“No! He’s your brother and you’re letting him do this!?”

 

Dave didn’t answer.

 

“What, you’re just gonna act like some completely cool cunt that doesn’t give a shit that your brother, who took care of you for nearly your whole life, is gonna-”

 

“JAKE, THAT'S ENOUGH!” Jade yelled, his voice echoing off the walls.

 

“But-“

 

“DO YOU DICTATE HOW SOMEONE REACTS!? LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

 

Jade then finished wrapping Dave’s arm and hugged him around his shoulders, Dave still unmoving.

 

Jake took a minute to cool off before he looked down and saw Dave’s shades. Jake picked it up and walked over to Dave, handing it to him.

 

Dave, without looking at Jake, put the sunglasses on.

 

“Dave?” Jade asked gently, putting a hand on his shoulder.

 

Streaks of a tinted red started running down Dave’s cheeks, his lip quivering a litte.

 

“Oh, Dave...” Jade pulled Dave and turned him, pressing his face against her shoulder, combing through his blonde hair with one hand and her other arm around his shoulders.

 

Jake came over and patted Dave on the back. “I’m sorry.”

 

...

...

...

 

Dirk’s wrists were cuffed behind his back as he was forced to swim forward by the guards, seeing the throne and the queen herself.

 

“Dirk Strider, why am I not surprised?” The queen’s voice sung out, the venom practically dripping from her voice. “I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Did you figure you could get away with killing a high blood because you were due anyway?”

 

The Condesce was a tall lady, like 6 feet, and with her extremely long hair she could bury Alternia alone. Her skin was a medium/dark tan, her tail was fushia, and she sat in her throne with a posture that suggested that she knew her shit. Her trident leaned against the side of her throne, and a few colored stains were there.

 

Dirk didn’t say anything, keeping his poker face.

 

“No words? Not even what you did to Gamzee Makara?” The Condesce asked, crossing her arms.

 

Dirk stayed silent.

 

“Fine, send him to the dungeon, his due date is soon anyway,” The Condesce said begrudgingly, waving her hand to the guards, who swam to Dirk.

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya swims through the dungeon, frantically looking for Rose.

 

Most of them were young kids, some were the group of lowbloods that are due to be culled.

 

As Kanaya swam past through the dungeons she saw a strikingly familiar shade of blonde.

 

She at first thought it was Rose, until she saw the striking orange tail that was infused with green.

 

"Dirk?" Kanaya called out as she swam to Dirk's cell.

 

Dirk looked fine, from a glance, but Kanaya noticed how he didn't have his tringular sunglasses.

 

He didn't say anything, but looked up at Kanaya.

 

"Dirk, what are you doing here??"

 

Dirk still didn't say anything, but he glanced away slightly to look at the bars, and Kanaya followed his gaze, and gasped when she saw the purple 3 painted on the bar.

 

The guards would use this to signal that the person in the cell was in here because they murdered someone, and use the blood of the troll that was murdered. The number was how many days they had left.

 

"... oh no... a purple blood?? Was it one of the Makaras??"

 

Dirk sighed.

 

"You have 3 days, we'll figure this out, ok??" Kanaya said as she held the bars that separated the two.

 

Dirk stayed silent, but his eyes said a few words.

 

_There's no point, I'm going to die_

 

...

...

...

 

“Oh Cod...” Kanaya said as she swam up into the cave, looking around herself in the bloody water, her face turning white as her stomach turns faster than a whirlpool.

 

“Kanaya?” Dave asked, wiping his eyes quickly.

 

The humans were there, of course.

 

“I think we have a problem.”

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya told everything, about Rose being found out of making the human transformation potions, being taken for the murder feast, and finding Dirk in jail.

 

“He hasn’t said anything, I tried to talk to him, but he just stayed silent,"

 

"Why did he do that?? Didn't he try to get out of it??" Jake asked, frantic.

 

"No, that's not how the Striders act, Jake," Rose said as she looked over at Dave. "they grieve in silence."

 

"But that's not how Dirk-"

 

"Shut up." Dave said.

 

"What-"

 

"You don't know anything. You're just a stupid human who thinks that just because you slept with my brother once you suddenly know all about him. What the fuck do you know about him?" Dave asked, his voice cold and hard.

 

Jake stayed silent.

 

What did he _really_ knew about Dirk?

 

... he knew enough.

 

"I know him. Sure, I've only known him for a summer, but I know him enough, and I love him, and I don't want to lose him, so whether you want him out and living or not, deal with it, but I’m gonna do what I can to save him." Jake said.

 

_Wait, did I just confess?_

 

_OH WHO GIVES A BLOODY DAMN_

 

"... ok." Dave said, sounding normal again. "So, how are we gonna get him out?"

 

"Wait... what the hell was up with that??"

 

"What?"

 

"You going down on me with the 'you don't know anything you're just a dumb human' thing on me?"

 

"Just seeing if you're willing to help." Dave said casually. "Now, how many days does he have?"

 

”SO WAIT, YOU WERE TESTING ME!?”

 

"Three." Kanaya said.

 

"Hmm, that’s not a lot of time,” Jade said, her eyebrows knitted together.

 

“It’s not like we could delay it,” Kanaya said.

 

“Actually...” Jade said, looking at the water.

 

Specifically the purple.

 

”Oh that is just unsanitary,” Jake said.

 

“... oh no.” Kanaya said, gagging.

 

“You’ve done worse, Jake,” Jade said.

 

“Kanaya, please,” Dave said.

 

“I’m not some rainbow drinker, Dave,” Kanaya said, scolding a bit. “besides, I need to find Rose.”

 

“We’ll find Rose.”

 

“The games are in 3 days, Dave, we don’t have enough time to make a master plan.”

 

“You know, neither of you explained what those are.” Jade said.

 

“Jade, I think I have a clear idea.” Jake said, a bit pale himself.

 

“Kanaya, I’m sorry to be the one to say this, but you’re gonna have to carry out most of this. Me and Jade can’t go down there, and Dave can’t go because they’re most likely searching out for him. Please, help us.”

 

Kanaya looked into Jake’s green eyes, seeing how they matched the green on Dirk’s tail.

 

“... I’ll help.”

 

Jake sighed happily, relieved.

 

“However, if Rose doesn’t get out of this alive, her blood is on your hands, and soon yours will be on mine.” Kanaya said, her voice now in a deadly tone Dave had never heard her speak in, sending chills to everyone in the cave.

 

“I need something to carry this.” Kanaya said, sounding perfectly normal.

 

Everyone was still shell shocked until Jade first snaps out and got out an empty water bottle she had from the basket.

 

“I finished it earlier,” Jade said, holding it out.

 

Kanaya observed the the strange looking bottle.

 

“Poland Springs?”

 

“That’s the water company.”

 

“People _sell_ water!?”

 

“To drink, yeah.”

 

Kanaya hums to herself as she, strugglingly, uncaps the plastic bottle and scoops the blood filled water.

 

“And you just close it again, to keep it from spilling.” Jake added.

 

Kanaya did so, kind of impressed by what humans have done, considering they’re magicless.

 

“Good luck,” Dave said, giving her a nod.

 

“You were always a jerk, Dave.” Kanaya said, and she dove underwater.

 

“... you know-“ Jade started.

 

“Shut up Harley.”

 

”You shut up, jerk.”

 

Jake didn’t pay attention, he was too preoccupied by his own thoughts.

 

“I hope he’ll be ok...”


	20. Part 1, The Sea Witch

Kanaya went back to the cells, quickly finding Dirk’s as she opened the water bottle and quickly stuffing a finger inside, trying to get enough to write with.

 

“What are you doing?” Dirk said for the first time in his cell.

 

“I’m helping you get out.” Kanaya said as she quickly got close to the bar and got out Gamzee’s blood, quickly fading off her finger as she writes a one in front of the 3.

 

She then quickly closed the bottle.

 

“We’ll get you out soon.” Kanaya said, turning around, about to swim away.

 

“Wait.” Dirk stopped Kanaya in her tracks.

 

“Rose was brought in after you left.”

 

Kanaya turned around and grabbed the bars, so suddenly it genuinely scaring Dirk.

 

“WHERE IS SHE?”

 

Dirk eyes on the last door at the end of the hall of cells, encrusted with gold accents and the shades of the highest bloods possible.

 

“... no... she can’t be in there...” Kanaya said as she swam a little closer.

 

“Condy’s not in there. You have a few minutes.” Dirk said.

 

Kanaya, in a heartbeat, was at the door, taking out her keys in the royal palace, unlocking the door to see an unconscious Rose.

 

Rose was chained to the wall, her wrists hanging above her head and her body hung over like a used rag doll. Even though her head was hung forward Kanaya can see the bruises and injuries inflicted on her face, her arms, her stomach.

 

“ROSE!” Kanaya cried out as she swam to her beloved.

 

She went to Rose’s side as she gently held Rose, putting her ear against her chest.

 

“Oh thank goodness.” Kanaya said as she slightly wept, hugging Rose tightly.

 

Rose then started to stir, letting out a groan.

 

“Dear... I can’t really breathe...” Rose said, chuckling a little.

 

Kanaya pulled away to look at Rose’s face.

 

“What did they do to you!?”

 

“They caught me stealing from the potions room, I should’ve been smarter.” Rose said, sighing.

 

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.” Kanaya said, cupping Rose’s face, her thumbs smoothing over her bruised cheeks.

 

“It was better that you weren’t. You’d be in here too. And besides, you’re the only one who can get the potions.”

 

“Wait, they didn’t confiscate those?”

 

“They were trying to find it, I’d be dead sooner if I told them where they were.”

 

Kanaya sighed, putting her forehead against Rose’s.

 

“How did we get involved with this, Rose?”

 

“I just wanted to help, and you got involved.”

 

Then, a loud bang of a door was heard.

 

Kanaya turned around, seeing that her door was still open.

 

“They’re coming back, you need to leave.” Rose said, urgently looking at Kanaya.

 

“But-“

 

“Listen,” Rose said, “the potions are back at the cave, I put them underneath the platform, there’s one that’s fuchsia and one that’s violet, the fuchsia is the finished potion and the violet needs more time to develop, you have 3 days to use the fuchsia one before it expires, the violet one will reach maturity in half a sweep unless you get your hands on a potion that quickens the process, break Dirk out and give him the fuchsia potion on land, he can’t take it underwater, everything is gonna be fine.”

 

Kanaya hummed worriedly before leaning in and kissing Rose, which Rose immediately returned.

 

Kanaya regrettably pulled away, closing her eyes.

 

“I love you.”

 

“I love you too.”

 

Kanaya then tearfully swam away, closing the door and locking it.

 

She heard the guards’ voices getting louder, and she quickly swam into an empty cell and pressed her back against the wall.

 

“-this kid though, where could he be?”

 

“Striders are tricky, always ready to leave on a whim.”

 

“Hey, Strider.” One of them called out. “Anyway idea where your brother is?”

 

Dirk didn’t say anything.

 

“Ugh, strong silent types.”

 

“Let’s not waste our time with him, he’ll be dead in the circus- wait, one3 days?”

 

“I thought he was joining them.”

 

“The Queen said so herself, maybe she changed her mind,”

 

“She is a piece of work, I can’t wait for her assassination. Anyway, let’s see the octopus witch, she still hasn’t told us where those stupid human potions are.”

 

...

...

...

 

“I’m so sorry, Kanaya,” Jade said, putting a comforting hand on Kanaya’s shoulder.

 

“The potions are here.” Kanaya said, moving underwater, underneath the platform.

 

“What’s gonna happen to them?” Jake asked.

 

“Rose will most likely be put in the circus.” Dave said, looking grim.

 

“The circus?”

 

“... I think I get it.” Jade said, turning pale.

 

Kanaya came up the water, holding a fuchsia colored potion.

 

“When we break Dirk out we need to bring him to land and give him this potion, however we only have 3 days before it’s useless,” Kanaya said, holding up the fuchsia one.

 

“So we have 3 days to get him out with that potion, what should we do?” Jake asked.

 

“There’s going to be a circus in 3 days, maybe when they’re releasing the prisoners we can sneak out Dirk.” Dave said.

 

“But I changed the number of days he has left,” Kanaya said, “the guards aren’t going to let him join, and it’s not like I can join them, they know who I am.”

 

“Eh, you do always have to tell them who you are anyway,” Dave said.

 

“True.”

 

“Maybe you can sneak in as a guard?” Jake asked.

 

“That would be hard, armors are hard to get, they’re always in the castle. Besides, most of the guards are male.” Kanaya said.

 

“Terezi isn’t a male.” Dave said.

 

“There’s no way she’d help, she’s the leader of the royal guards. And besides, I haven’t talked to her for some time,”

 

“Knowing her, she will.”

 

“I’ll go tomorrow,” Kanaya said, sighing. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night because of the grubs.”

 

“Rest up, Kanaya, you’ll need it.”

 

...

...

...

 

Jake laid in his bed, looking up at the ceiling, stuck in a sleepless trance at midnight.

 

The sounds of crickets echoed from the outside, and the moon shined brightly through Jake’s window, casting a light over the bottom half of his bed.

 

He thought about how he could’ve been there, maybe prevented all of this.

 

Maybe if I didn’t find Dirk he’d be fine, or at least delay the inevitable.

 

Jake then sat up in his bed, and sighed, thinking about the last words Dirk said to him before he swam off and turned himself in.

 

He cupped his hands together and bowed his head, the moonlight now casting his whole body.

 

“If anyone is up there, please, save Dirk.”

 

Jake then looked out the window and got off his bed, walking to the window and opening it up, the cool air rushing in, the scent of the ocean water faunt.

 

Jake looked up at the sky, seeing the moon, almost full, and the stars shining brightly.

 

Memories of their shared night rushes through his head, his tail providing a gentle, orange glow in the water, the stars sparkling along the dark sky, the cold air yet the warm embrace of his arms.

 

Jake sighed, shutting his eyes and dropping his head forward.

 

“He’s going to get killed if no one saves him.”

 

Jake then looked up at the moon again.

 

“Please save him, I don’t want to lose him, I can’t do anything, I’m just some human, please.” 

 

The wind suddenly stopped, the crickets stopped chirping, and it was warmer, for one second.

 

For that one second, Jake’s breath stopped, waiting for something, anything.

 

Then it all came back.

 

Jake sighed.

 

“What was I thinking. There’s no deity that can help.”

 

Jake then went back to bed, laying on his side, his back facing the window.

 

As soon as he closed his eyes, the chirping and wind stopped, and the air was warmer.

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya swam through the castle, finding Terezi’s door and knocking on it.

 

The door opens, revealing a “just got out of bed” Terezi.

 

“Yes?” Terezi asked, sniffing and immediately straightened her back and smiled.

 

“Kanaya!”

 

“Hello Terezi,” Kanaya greeted, smiling as well.

 

“Well, come in!” Terezi said, moving out of the way to let Kanaya swim in.

 

As Kanaya entered, she immediately remembered why she hated visiting Terezi’s room.

 

“Your room is still a mess,”

 

“I don’t really have the time to clean up, considering what the Sea Bitch is gonna make me do for her. Anyway, what brings you here?” Terezi asked as she swam over to her bed.

 

“Well, I’m sure you know that Dirk was taken in.”

 

“Wait what?”

 

“Um, he was taken in.”

 

“Oh shit. I had no idea. What was he taken in for?”

 

Kanaya shifted a bit around nervously.

 

“... for murdering Gamzee.”

 

Terezi paused her breathing as her face faces down on the floor.

 

“Huh... that’ll explain why he hasn’t came.” Terezi’s head then shot up at Kanaya’s directed. “Wait, Dave! Is he ok??”

 

“He’s fine, he’s in hiding.”

 

“I haven’t talked to him in weeks, where is he??”

 

“That’s something I can’t share- listen. We’re planning on breaking Dirk out, and we need you to set him free during the circus that’s coming up in two days.”

 

Terezi thought about it for one, excruciating moment.

 

“Ok.”

 

“Wait what? Just like that?”

 

“Well, considering it’ll be my last days here too, might as well.”

 

“Wait, what?” Kanaya asked, bewildered.

 

Terezi shrugged. “Top secret stuff. Besides, I owe Dave that.”

 

“Can... can you also do me another favor?” Kanaya asked.

 

“Sure.”

 

“So, you remember Rose.”

 

“Well duh, who doesn’t?”

 

...

...

...

 

“She’s going to help.” Kanaya said, and some audible sighs of relief were heard.

 

“Knew it,” Dave said, smirking.

 

“I guess we have a plan,” Jade said cheerfully.

 

“But what do we do while we wait?” Jake asked, scratching the back of his head.

 

“Prepare. Since Dirk is getting broken out we need to hide Dave.” Kanaya said.

 

“Can’t I just stay here? I mean, no merperson is allowed to be close to land.”

 

“They’re gonna look everywhere, we can’t take any risks. The kingdom will be in total lockdown, the guards will be all over the place, and the Condesce is going to come out of the castle.”

 

“Oh shit.”

 

“Doesn’t she already do that? She is the queen,” Jade asked.

 

“No, most of the time the royals stay inside, they only ever come out for special occasions.” Kanaya said. “But anyway, I won’t be able to come here for the next two days, and when Dirk escapes you two need to find a place away from here,”

 

“We can take them to our house,” Jake said. “we have a pool, we can put Dave there and let Dirk turn into a human inside.”

 

“Be careful with that, merpeople can’t last very long out of water,”

 

“Should we just bring in a container for them to sit in or something?” Jade asked.

 

“I don’t think that’s necessary, it’s only a few minutes to drive from here to Nanna’s,” Jake said.

 

“But what if someone sees us?” Jade asked.

 

“Maybe we’ll do this at night, what time does the circus start?”

 

“Uhhh...” Dave frowned. “I don’t know.”

 

“Some time before we sleep,” Kanaya said.

 

“Oh yeah, you guys don’t have clocks,” Jake said, sighing. “how are we going to know what time now?”

 

“We’ll figure it out,” Jade said, her lips forming a tight line.


	21. Part 2. The Lioness

The queen swam through the dungeons, smirking at the lowbloods sleeping on the hard floor.

 

“Poor unfortunate souls,”

 

Her hair was moving like tendrils, black as the darkest ink as it creeps around the bars of the cells, looking like a cloud of darkness.

 

She was originally going to see Rose and continue to torture Rose for where those potions are, but as she was going to past Dirk she decided to greet him.

 

“Well hello,” She said, smirking a bit as she leaned on the bars.

 

Dirk kept his head down and silent.

 

“You’re lucky we can’t find your brother,”

 

Still nothing.

 

The Condesce sighed. “You’re no fun, there’s nothing out of you, no anger, no crying, nothing!”

 

Still nothing.

 

She groaned. “Wow, you’re just gonna deny my satisfaction?”

 

Still nothing from Dirk.

 

“Let’s see how silent you’ll be when the games rip your body to pieces.”

 

The Condesce was about to swim away, when she noticed the number.

 

“Twelve? Ugh, I should have my guards executed for getting the globbing number wrong,”

 

She then licks her thumb and rubs the one off, licking her thumb again, now stained with purple.

 

She gags a little, “I never liked grape.”

 

Dirk now had two days.

 

When the Condesce was gone, he smirked to himself.

 

“That was useless adding the one,”

 

Dirk then shifted onto his back and started up at the ceiling and sighed.

 

_ I only have two days left... _

 

_ Hopefully they’re safe, and if Kanaya gets me out I’ll forever be in her debt _

 

It warmed his heart that Kanaya was willing to help, even though he was the one who put Rose in the torture chamber.

 

_ I definitely need to help Rose get out, she doesn’t deserve to be in here _

 

He then thought about how the guys above, thinking about how they’re feeling.

 

There’s no doubt they’re involved involved in this.

 

Dave, definitely, would try to be cool about it, Jade would be talking about plans, and Jake...

 

_ Jake... _

 

He said he’d do anything to try and be with him, whatever thing is going on between them is real and he isn’t gonna risk losing it.

 

Dirk looked down at his tail, seeing the green weaving amongst the orange.

 

He may not be in love with Jake, even though his tail says otherwise, but he is definitely on the road to.

 

...

...

...

 

“Two more days until Dirk escapes!” Jade said cheerfully.

 

“Jeez Harley, you mind not screaming that?” Dave asked, rubbing his eyes and groaning.

 

“Well sorry,” Jade said, setting the basket on the ground and sitting down.

 

“Where’s the cousin?”

 

“Jake decided to stay home, he didn’t sleep very well.” Jade said as she got out some bread and handed it to Dave.

 

“I guess you’re stuck with only me,” Dave said, biting out a piece and smirking.

 

“How are you holding up?” Jade asked, crossing her legs and leaning forward slightly.

 

“I’m fine. You?”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

It was silent between them as they ate.

 

“It’s not really fine, is it.”

 

“Nope.”

 

Jade patted Dave’s shoulder lightly, then he suddenly moved up and sat on the platform, pulling her into a hug.

 

Jade was very startled for a second, before instantly hugging him back.

 

“It’s ok, Dirk, Kanaya, and Rose will be ok, Dave,” Jade said, holding his shoulders and head closely.

 

“You don’t know that.”

 

“It’s a good hypothesis,”

 

“The fuck is that?”

 

“A theory based on evidence,”

 

“Huh,”

 

After a few minutes of silence Dave spoke again.

 

“If we end up dead, I’m sorry for kissing you when Gamzee came,”

 

Jade chuckled, pulling away and playfully messing Dave’s hair.

 

“It’s fine, it’s not like you’re a doctor,”

 

“What’s a doctor?”

 

Jade sighed, chuckling. “How can you be so ahead, but so behind?”

 

Dave shrugged.

 

“I was just saying sorry for kissing you,”

 

“Which I happily accept,” Jade said, smiling cheerfully.

 

...

...

...

 

The Condesce closes the door behind her, seeing the cecealia sleeping.

 

She then swam over to her, and slapped her straight across the face, waking Rose up with a groan.

 

“Wake up, lowblood,” The Condesce demanded, Rose rousing from her horrible rest.

 

“Are you finally gonna tell me where those human transformation potions are? The circus is in two days, you might as well.”

 

“No.” Rose said, glaring up at her.

 

“Why are you so defiant?” The Condesce asked, crossing her arms.

 

“Because the people here need to escape from you before you kill them all,” Rose said, her voice still weak but strong in words. “you think lowbloods are worthless, and they just keep multiplying while you don’t even have a human grub”

 

The Condesce brought out her trident and threw it at Rose’s head.

 

Rose shut her eyes before hearing a loud thump over her head, looking up to see the trident was a few inches from her head.

 

Suddenly, the Condesce was right to her face.

 

“You don’t know what it’s like taking care of hundreds of highbloods, I don’t need the problems of the lowbloods, you all just keep multiplying, and I might as well exterminate you all.”

 

The Condesce then pulled the trident out from the wall.

 

“Don’t  _ ever _ imply I’m jealous of your race, or else I won’t miss your head next time. Now tell me;  **_where are those potions?_ ** ”

 

Rose didn’t say anything, continuing to glare at the Condesce.

 

“Tell me where they are, or else your precious matesprite will deal with your consequences.”

 

Rose then was confused.

 

“What?”

 

“I have my guards surrounding your house, and they’ll attack when I send my signal.”

 

“How do I know you’re not lying?”

 

The Condesce turns around and grabs the mirror from the door, coming back to Rose with it.

 

She then pricks her finger, blood drawing from it and she circles the mirror surface with it, showing Rose’s house, Kanaya with the little grubs and playing with them.

 

She looked tired, her eyes having dark circles beneath them, but nonetheless smiling for the grubs.

 

Rose forgets the purpose of the Condesce showing this to her for a moment, her heart warming to see her love, before the image shifts and it shows several guards circling her and Kanaya’s home.

 

She, at first, was fearful, seeing now that the Condesce wasn’t trying to scare her into telling where the potions are.

 

But then, her fear changed to anger, boiling hot anger.

 

“DONT TOUCH HER!” She yelled, swimming upward and pulling against the chains that bind her.

 

The Condesce was fortunate enough to far enough away to where Rose’s chains stopped, she was so close but not enough.

 

“Oh, I won’t,” The Condesce said, chuckling. “but my guards will, and unless you tell me, I’ll be giving them the signal quite soon.”

 

“... please don’t hurt her...” Rose begged, her voice defeated as she swam back down to the floor in shame, her eyes filling with tears.

 

The Condesce smirked in triumph, finally getting what she wants.

 

“I won’t. Now,” The Condesce gets down to Rose’s level and puts two fingers under Rose’s chin, lifting Rose’s face to face hers.

 

“Tell me where those potions are.


	22. The Truth And Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to apologize for not posting these two last chapters weeks ago, school was keeping me busy and with my other projects Seadwellers sadly became a last priority. I promise you, it’s next and final chapter will be the best thing I could bring to this table, and hopefully its successor will do it justice, thank you all so much for this journey and I will never forget this amazing time I had writing this fanfic, It reanimated my love for writing and I’ll never let it go now, enjoy this chapter
> 
> -LM

_ “Wow, English,”  _

 

_ “Do you wanna just hang out here for a while and just talk and make out?” _

 

_ “Are you asking me on a date, Jake?”  _

 

_ “Is that bad?” _

 

_ “No. It sounds perfect.” _

 

Jake woke up slowly, the words echoing through his head.

 

He just laid there, staring up at the ceiling.

 

_ Why did I fall for a merman _

 

_ Why _

 

Jake thought more and more, his thoughts feeding him more of questions and growing his regrets.

 

_ You knew he was gonna die soon _

 

_ You knew he has a little brother to look out for _

 

_ You knew he’s been through so much _

 

_ Were you just that selfish to put more on his shoulders _

 

_ You idiot _

 

_ You selfish, fucking idiot _

 

_ You put yourself in this situation _

 

His thoughts were cut off when he heard a light knock on his door, and a voice.

 

“Jake?”

 

He instantly felt better when he heard Nanna’s voice, the questions in his head shut up in a second.

 

He sat up and put on his glasses. “Come in,”

 

Nanna then came in, her face showing she was worried.

 

“Jake, are you ok?” She walked over to him and sat on the edge of his bed, putting a hand on his forehead.

 

“Oh dear, you’re burning up a bit sweetie, hopefully you don’t start school getting sick,”

 

Then, he hugged her.

 

“Oh! Jake?”

 

He then started crying into her shoulder.

 

“Oh, Jake,” Nanna cradled Jake a bit as she rubbed her hands up and down his back.

 

“It’s ok sweetie, just cry it out,”

 

“HE JUST LEFT AND HE SAID HE’D TRY TO GIVE US A CHANCE!”

 

Nanna continued to hug him tightly, repeating what she said before.

 

And he just cried it out, and she was there was she held him close and stayed quiet.

 

He wasn’t really sure why he was crying, but it sure feel damn good to just let it out.

 

Maybe it was the fact that he felt responsible for all of this, maybe it was because he was worried about Dirk’s future, maybe he just felt hopeless.

 

Maybe he just missed him, and there was a chance he won’t make it, that they won’t even have a chance together, maybe he felt angry at Dirk who just seemed so willing to just leave him.

 

Maybe he was just tired because he was begging some god out there to help him last night.

 

Maybe it’s all these things.

 

After a few minutes, he finally calmed down, running out of tears to cry out.

 

He pulled away to wipe his dry cheeks for any wetness left over.

 

“Sweetie, what happened?”

 

“Nanna, so much happened over the summer, and I might lose him,

 

_ “So wait, you have a clock with you all the time, but you don’t even use it that much,” _

 

_ “Yep.” _

 

_ “That sounds like a waste of time,” _

 

_ “Literally.” _

 

_ Dirk and Jake chuckled as they laid on the sand, looking up at the stars. _

 

_ “I can’t remember the last time I saw the stars,” _

 

_ “You don’t come out of the cave at night?” _

 

_ “What point would there be? It gets lonely just looking up at the sky, and Dave needs to sleep, I can’t just force him to watch the stars with me.” _

 

_ “Luckily you have me, eh?” _

 

_ Dirk smirked as he turned his head to Jake. _

 

_ “Yeah.” _

 

_ Jake turned his head to Dirk as well, smiling. _

 

“What do you mean, sweetie? Why do you think you’ll lose him?”

 

It was time he told her.

 

“Nanna, there’s something I need to tell you.”

 

“What is it?”

 

And Jake explained it all.

 

_ “You know, I never thought I’d meet someone like you, Jake English.” _

 

_ “I never thought I’d meet someone like you either, Dirk Strider.” _

 

_ Dirk then sat up, facing Jake. _

 

_ “Wanna know why I like you?” _

 

_ Jake sat up, crossing his legs as he nodded. _

 

_ “First, you’re different. Not different as in different species, though that certainly helps.” _

 

_ Jake chuckled, smiling at Dirk. _

 

_ “I mean, I don’t have a lot of mermen I can say they’re my friends, I only ever had my little bro. And, well, meeting you makes me want to fight.” _

 

_ “That doesn’t sound like a good thing,” Jake teased, and Dirk chuckled. _

 

_ “It makes me want to fight for my life, I honestly thought there was no one who wanted me to stay, that my only purpose was that Dave escapes and he has a life. I’m not the smartest or the most liked, and I’m a lowblood.” _

 

_ He then put a hand on Jake’s cheek, cupping it as he looked a bit more into his green eyes. _

 

_ “You made me feel like there’s more for me.” _

 

_ Jake’s heart warmed up when he said that, his eyes a little watered. _

 

_ “Oh shit, was that something I shouldn’t have-“ _

 

_ Jake then pulled Dirk in and kissed him, shutting him up. _

 

_ Dirk was very shocked at first, before he warmed into the kiss. _

 

_ Eventually, Jake pulled away. _

 

_ “I don’t care about anything you said about yourself, you are worth it. I didn’t think there was much for my life either, I’d grow up, get a job, maybe have a family, then die. You make me feel there’s more to life than just that, and I’m so happy I made you feel that way as well.” _

 

_ Dirk smiled. _

 

_ “I’m gonna try to make it, and I’m gonna do everything in my power to make sure we have a chance.” _

 

_ Jake pulled him into another kiss, and in the distance from the water the sun was starting to rise, the sky slowly turning the sky to fiery red and orange that blended with the dark ocean blue. _


	23. Midnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for your support of Seadwellers, and I hope you forgive me for being a day late, this chapter is extra long~ I’ll see you at the end <3
> 
> -L

“Is she gone?” Kanaya asked as she sneaked into Terezi’s room, scaring her.

 

“AH! Knock next time, Kanaya!” Terezi said as she came out of the closet.

 

“Oh, sorry,” Kanaya said, closing the door behind her. “anyway, is she gone?”

 

“For your information, I’m fine now,” Terezi said, giving Kanaya a raised eyebrow.

 

“I’m not in the mood to deal with this, Terezi,” Kanaya said, her voice pinching in annoyance.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m the one who’s risking my entire life and career to help you and Rose escape, along with Dirk.” Terezi snapped back, crossing her arms at Kanaya.

 

Kanaya sighed, moving to sit on Terezi’s bed.

 

“I’m sorry, I’m just really tense,”

 

Terezi then moves next to Kanaya, putting an arm around her shoulders.

 

“I get it, I was just teasing. She’s gone, she totally believed Rose, she won’t be able to come back in time for the whole circus,”

 

“I’m just ashamed I had to lie to Rose about where the potions are at,”

 

“You knew you had to lie, the Condesce wouldn’t believe her otherwise,”

 

Kanaya sighed, feeling the guilt rise more inside her being.

 

She and Terezi came to a plan on how to release both Dirk and Rose; Terezi was already an advisor when it came to personal business with the Condesce for some reason, and Terezi would advise her to use Kanaya to get Rose to reveal information. During that time, Kanaya would be visiting Rose, telling her where the potions are currently, the location being Emerald Bank, which is quite far from Alternia Bay, a day’s worth of travel at the very least.

 

_“It was pretty hard to convince her to use you, she apparently doesn’t like using her prisoners’ partners to get what she wants.”_

 

Maybe there was a reason for that, but Kanaya didn’t care at this point. She was gonna get Rose out of this situation once and for all.

 

Still though, it disappointed her that in part of her and Terezi’s plan she had to lie to her beloved.

 

“Anyway, the circus will start when the bells toll, you’ll be wearing this armor,” Terezi said as she swam up to her closet and brought out her guard armor.

 

“Make sure your tail is stained, most of the guards came with the Condesce to get the potion there won’t be a lot of guards to watch out for, you have one chance to get Dirk and Rose out.”

 

“Thanks Terezi.”

 

...

...

...

 

“Where were you last night, Jade?” Nanna asked as she sat across from Jake and Jade.

 

“Oh, I was just hanging out at the beach and I fell asleep,” Jade said casually, drinking from her cup of water.

 

“Are you sure you weren’t talking to a merman?”

 

Jade, out of pure shock, started hacking and coughing, the water momentarily choking her.

 

Jake then quickly patted Jade’s back as Nanna started cackling.

 

“You- I- WHAT!?” Jade wheezed a bit but persisted to talk.

 

“I honestly thought you were gonna spit out the water or something!” Nanna said, still laughing and wiping her eyes.

 

“How do you know about that!?” Jade asked once she’s recovered, breathing heavily.

 

“I told her yesterday,” Jake said, his hand now moving to her shoulder. “I figured it was time to tell her, considering we’re gonna bring in said merman,”

 

“And Jake’s boyfriend,” Nanna said, squealing in excitement. “Jake’s first love!”

 

“W-wait, I don’t love him-“

 

“Anyway,” Nanna said, interrupting Jake. “now that I know, I guess I’m gonna have to come up with an excuse of why there’s a new boy in my house, and why the pool can’t be used for my knitting club,”

 

“Wait, why are you so cool with this?” Jade asked.

 

“Well, I’ve always known there were mermaids here at Alternia Bay,”

 

“What?”

 

“I was a young girl, married and I had a baby. Before Plum Beach was a dump like it is today it was the beach I always went to, and I was just sitting by myself in the sun with my new baby, and out of the blue I saw this pink color in the water, and then a head peeking out. I pretended that I wasn’t looking, but she was a really beautiful woman. Anyway, she then ducked down and disappeared. I knew from then on that there were people under the water.”

 

“Wow... didn’t you tell anyone?” Jade asked.

 

“I told your grandfather, he thought I was spilling nonsense. He thought that I just saw a swimmer, but I just knew she wasn’t just a swimmer. I’m happy to help you kids to the best of my ability, just tell me these things next time?” Nanna asked, smirking.

 

“We got it, Nanna,”

 

Despite everything going on, at least they had their Nanna on their side.

 

“So, when can I meet that merman?”

 

...

...

...

 

“OH DEAR LORD OF HEAVEN!” Nanna said as she saw Dave.

 

“GAH!” Dave squealed as he quickly hopped into the water.

 

“How does she even crawl without breaking anything?” Jade asked Jake quietly.

 

“She’s a really strong lady,” Jake said, matching Jade’s volume.

 

“You’re damn right I’m a really strong lady! I’m sure more than half of my girls would have a heart attack seeing a mermaid!” Nanna said, still looking down at the water where Dave was.

 

All at once all three of the kids said “it’s actually merman,” and Nanna rolls her eyes.

 

“You kids and your pronunciations,”

 

Nanna then sits down, Jake and Jade following her.

 

“Wow...” Dave said, studying Nanna’s face. “You’re really old.”

 

“DAVE!” Jake and Jade yelled as Nanna laughed.

 

“Yes, I am,” Nanna said, smiling.

 

“How old are you?”

 

“I am 62 years young,”

 

“Wow, I’ve never seen an old person before,”

 

“Oh? Why’s that?”

 

“Most of them get killed off.”

 

Nanna raises an eyebrow and frowns.

 

“Well, that’s darker than I expected. Is that why my grandchildren are trying to help you and your brother escape?”

 

Dave nodded, and Nanna looked at Jake with a suspicious glare.

 

“This boy you’re seeing... how old is he?”

 

“He’s turning 18 in a few months?” Jake said, sounding confused.

 

“Oh thank goodness, I thought you were with some older man,”

 

“NANNA!”

 

“Your search history isn’t helping your case, Jake,”

 

“NANNA I DON'T LOOK AT PORN- WHY ARE YOU LOOKING THROUGH MY SEARCH HISTORY!?” Jake’s face was a red as a tomato.

 

Dave and Jade snickered as Jake and Nanna begin to bicker.

 

“So, Harley, I’m assuming your Nanna is here to help out?” Dave asked.

 

“You’d be correct, Strider,” Jade said, smiling.

 

“You think we’ll be able to escape?” Dave asked.

 

“Of course! If I didn’t do you think we’d try?”

 

Dave shrugged, sighing.

 

“I don’t know. I mean, it’s kinda hopeless for me anyway. There isn’t another potion, and I’m pretty sure Kanaya and Rose will have to run away. I’m not ever gonna see my friends again.”

 

Jade motioned Dave onto the platform, which he complied to, and she held his hand.

 

“I’m so sorry you have to go through this. I know you don’t want to leave,”

 

“I never did,” Dave said, frowning. “even if it was absolute shit it was still my home. But for my bro, we gotta leave. He’s already sacrificed so much for me, it’s time I lose something for him.”

 

...

...

...

 

_It’s possibly my last day being alive, and I’m bored to shit_

 

_I wonder what Rose is doing_

 

...

...

...

 

Rose stared at the door, waiting for whatever will come to her.

 

She knew once the Condesce comes she was done for.

 

She hoped that Kanaya could’ve escaped, she didn’t deserve any punishment that Rose was responsible for.

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya was with the guards, waiting outside the prison for when the bells ring.

 

Her tail was now a blueish color as she held her spear awkwardly to her side.

 

“Guard, hold your weapon right.” One of the commanding officers said.

 

“Aw come on, give the kid a break, she’s new,” One of the guards, a male, said for Kanaya.

 

Kanaya couldn’t see his face, with the helmet over his head, but she saw he was a blue blood, with some hints of red splotching his tail, and he was missing an arm.

 

“Hold the spear more upright and not touching your side.”

 

Kanaya did so, and she fit in better with the other guards.

 

“So... you guys excited?” Kanaya asked, trying to sound normal.

 

“No?” One of the guards, a mermaid, said.

 

As the same with the guy, Kanaya couldn’t see her face because of the helmet, but saw her tail, purplish.

 

“We don’t enjoy killing these people, we’re only doing so for the Condesce’s entertainment. Luckily she’s probably not gonna make it for this circus, so we can just kill the prisoners more comfortably.”

 

“You... guys don’t agree?” Kanaya asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Duh.” The male who answered for Kanaya said, looking at her. “We’ve been betting when the Condesce will get assassinated for, what, three years?”

 

“Five years, you just joined then,” The female said.

 

“Huh...” Kanaya said, thinking to herself.

 

“What? You’d expect a bunch of guards who torture prisoners daily like doing that? I mean, some of us are sadistic,” The male said, looking to the commanding officer who commented on Kanaya’s spear holding.

 

“I’d be lying if I said otherwise,”

 

“That’s fair,”

 

“Why don’t you guys just, well, leave?”

 

The ‍mermaid scoffed. “Like hell we can, we signed a blood oath, we can’t get out,”

 

“Blood oath?”

 

“Once you sign in, you can’t get out,”

 

“But why did you guys willingly sign up for this?”

 

“Well,” The merman started, “when you’re a guard the high bloods can’t go after your family,”

 

“You should know this, you are a guard, are you not?” The mermaid asked.

 

“Uh- ye-yeah! I’m just double checking that’s all!” Kanaya said, clamming up.

 

Both guards tilt their heads at Kanaya in curiosity, but didn’t question it.

 

Kanaya sighed, gripping on the spear.

 

_We’ll make it_

 

...

...

...

 

After a very long explanation of the kingdom under the sea, how Dirk and Jake meet, how eventually Jade and Dave came into the picture, and what had happened that caused Dirk’s arrest, Nanna soon left, since she felt bored afterwards.

 

“Ah, I’ll see some excitement at home,” Nanna said, and then she gave a goodbye kiss to Jake and Jade and crawled out of the cave.

 

“Nanna is awesome,” Dave said to the two teens.

 

“Yep,” Jake said, sitting off the edge of the platform with Dave, Jade sitting cross legged next to him. “I feel bad we had to keep a lot of stuff from her though,”

 

“At least we didn’t tell her about John, and how we’re related to the Condesce, and how I’m actually the true heiress-“ Jade said, her tone becoming more, fittingly enough, condescending.

 

“If we tell her, she’d have a heart attack knowing John was alive and that we’re related to sea Hitler,” Jake said, scolding her.

 

“If she didn’t have a heart attack over seeing Dave and pretty much telling everything I’m sure she can survive hearing her dead grandson was actually alive.”

 

“She already has a grandson.”

 

“Guys.” Dave said, raising an eyebrow at the two of them. “Calm down.”

 

Jake and Jade did a double take and laughed a bit, hearing Dave being the one who has to mediate was really weird.

 

“What?”

 

“Why are you so strangely calm?” Jake asked.

 

“I’m not, I’m freaking out and none of you are helping out with it.”

 

Jake and Jade stayed silent and sighed.

 

“I’m sorry,” Jade said, frowning.

 

“It’s fine, I’m just on edge,”

 

“So are we,”

 

“Ok, ok, we just need to clam down- I mean calm, calm down,”

 

“Jake, are you seriously bringing that back?” Jade asked, giggling.

 

“No-“

 

“Don’t be a little beach, Jake, you did it,” Dave said.

 

“Oh don’t you start, Strider!” Jake said, sounding desperate and angry.

 

“What? You finking it over?”

 

“STOOOOOOOOOOOP!”

 

...

...

...

 

Hours past.

 

The night was getting closer on land.

 

The sea stayed the same.

 

The only thing that changed for the merpeople are the ringing sounds of the bell.

 

The Dark Carnival has begun.

 

...

...

...

 

Kanaya and the other guards stood up from the long hours when the bells rung, and they quickly entered the prison.

 

“Ok, you three take this side,” The commanding officer said, pointing to Kanaya and the two merpeople she was talking to. “you three take the other side, no one touches the last door,” He said, referring to Rose’s room.

 

He then gave us the keys as he left through the entrance and locked it from the outside.

 

“Wait, we’re not going through that way?” Kanaya asked the merman.

 

“No, we’re going through the other door, it leads directly to the arena.”

 

_Fuck, how am I gonna get Dirk and Rose out!?_

 

Kanya quickly started unlocking the prisoners’ cells, their faces full of fear and begging to be set free.

 

Kanaya couldn’t bare looking at them in the face, it was hard enough seeing her beloved in the same situation as them, but the fact that so many innocents were going to die today, and she can’t do anything about that.

 

She then got to Dirk’s cell, and she unlocked his cell.

 

“Dirk!” Kanaya whispered, and Dirk’s head shot up from his bed.

 

“Kanaya?”

 

Kanaya nodded, ushering him out.

 

“Just act natural, I’ll figure a way out,” Kanaya said, looking around as merpeople were swimming out of their cells, begging to let them go.

 

“Is that everyone?” One of the guards asked.

 

“Should be, let’s lead them to the arena-“ The mermaid said before one of the prisoners pushed her against the wall.

 

“LET ME OUT!”

 

The mermaid shoved the prisoner off her with her elbow and pointed her spear to their face.

 

“Keep swimming, prisoner.”

 

Kanaya and Dirk looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

 

“Please, I have a family!”

 

“So do I.” The merman said.

 

Kanaya was soon feeling more and more nauseous as she felt her stomach churn.

 

“Guard, are you ok?” The mermaid asked as she swam to Kanaya’s side, holding her shoulders.

 

“Not really, no,”

 

The mermaid then started to take off Kanaya’s helmet, and Kanaya panicked.

 

“Wait-!” Kanaya gripped on the helmet by the ends

 

“You’re gonna get sick, take the helmet off,” The mermaid said as she then, because she was so much stronger than Kanaya, took off her helmet.

 

“What the fuck? Kanaya Maryam?”

 

“Kanaya Maryam? The mermaid in charge of the scalemating and the daughter of the Dolorosa?”

 

Kanaya groaned, “The one time a guard knows who I am at the time I don’t want to be recognized, just my luck,”

 

“She’s trying to break out a prisoner, take her down!” Said one of the guards.

 

The mermaid and merman looked at each other, before they looked to Kanaya, their spears ready.

 

She was so sure she’d die today, and she was ready.

 

And then they turned around and threw their spears straight into the guards’ throats, single handedly killing them in the process.

 

Kanaya and Dirk’s mouths were gaping as the mermaid and merman turned back to them.

 

“My name is Vultra, and this is Beizma, we’re part of the rebellion to take down the Condesce,” The mermaid, Vultra, said.

 

“Go while you can, take who you’re supposed to, we’re freeing these prisoners,” Beizma said.

 

Then, the commanding officer came in.

 

“Hey, what’s going on-“

 

“Vultra!”

 

Vultra then took out a lyre with a body of a serpent and threw it at the officer.

 

It then came... alive(?), and it swam forward and trapped the officer in binds.

 

“GAH!”

 

“Get out, now!” Yelled Beizma, and Kanaya and Dirk swam to the end of the hall, finding Rose’s door and unlocking it.

 

“Go!” Kanaya yelled at Dirk as she opened the door, seeing Rose passed out.

 

“But-“

 

“GO! Me and Rose will be ok!” Kanaya said, glaring at Dirk so hard she could bare holes in Dirk’s skull.

 

Hundreds of merpeople were swimming out of the cells, Dirk joining them as he started swimming back to the cave.

 

_Holy._

 

_Fucking._

 

_Shit._

 

...

...

...

 

“God, where are they!?” Jake yelled as he started pacing around in the cave.

 

It was 11:30 pm, and they thought it would’ve been around 8 that Dirk and Kanaya would come up.

 

If they didn’t hurry up the potion was gonna expire and Dirk wasn’t gonna be able to turn human.

 

“I don’t know!” Dave said, also panicking.

 

“Guys! Yelling at each other isn’t going to help!” Jade said, scolding at both of the boys.

 

“Well then what else are we supposed to do, Jade!?” Dave asked.

 

“Hug while we wait?” Jade said, raising an eyebrow while shrugging.

 

“That’s a stupid idea,” Dave said.

 

“Well, what else would you suggest?” Jade asked.

 

Jake thought about it before he went over and hugged Jade tightly.

 

“Whatever happens, I’m glad you’re here,” Jake said.

 

“Why are you sounding like we’re gonna die?” Jade asked, standing completely still.

 

“Because I don’t know what is gonna happen.”

 

Jade then hugged Jake back tightly, pressing her face in his shoulder.

 

“Literally the best summer I ever had.” Jade said, chuckling.

 

“Um... can I have a hug?” Dave asked.

 

Jade and Jake pulled away to look at Dave, and they laughed as they went over and hugged Dave.

 

“We’re slowly going insane, aren’t we?” Jade asked.

 

“What are you talking about? I thought you guys were already,” Dave said.

 

“Oh shut up, Dave,” Jake said.

 

Then, a person popped out of the water.

 

“Yo.” Dirk said casually.

 

“DIRK!” Everyone screamed as Dave dived into the water and hugged his brother.

 

“GAH! Dave, loosen the grip.” Dirk said, chuckling as his face started turning blue.

 

“I’m so glad you’re ok,” Jade said, her smile going from ear to ear.

 

Then, Dirk and Jake’s eyes met.

 

Dave noticed this as he then swam back onto the ledge, next to Jade.

 

“They’re gonna make out, aren’t they?”

 

“Yep,” Jade said, smiling still.

 

It was silent, nothing was moving, and the next thing Jake knew he was swimming in the water and they were now in a loving embrace, their lips crashing into one another.

 

“Ow!” Jake cried out, pulling away as he held his mouth, Dirk doing the same.

 

“Jegus fuck, Jake,” Dirk said, laughing.

 

“Well sorry-!” Jake started before Dirk pulled him in again, kissing him.

 

Jake was still trying to talk but he gave up as he kissed Diek back deeply, his arms around his neck while Dirk’s arms was around his waist.

 

“D’aww,” Jade said.

 

Jake then pulled away, and the glared hard at Dirk.

 

“Ah fuck.” Dirk said.

 

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH OF A NIGHTMARE IT WAS WAITING FOR YOU TO COME HOME!? I DIDNT KNOW IF YOU WERE ALIVE OR DEAD AND YOU LEFT ME SAYING I LOVE YOU, WHO DOES THAT!?”

 

Dirk stayed silent as he let Jake continue.

 

“YOU SAID YOU WERE GONNA TRY AND-“ Jake then started crying a little as he tried to continue. “AND- and you left me-“

 

Dirk patted him on the back as Jake buried his face in the crook of Dirk’s neck.

 

“Shhh, shhh, it’s all alright now,”

 

After a few minutes Jake finally pulled away.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

 

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” Dirk said, cupping Jake’s face as he rested his forehead against Jake’s.

 

“So, like, are we leaving or-“ Dave started.

 

“Oh, right.”

 

“What?” Dirk asked.

 

“We’re getting you and Dave out from here, we’re bringing you home.” Jade said.

 

“Uhh, not sure if you noticed, but merpeople don’t typically live on land,”

 

“We have a pool, don’t worry.” Jake said.

 

“Even then, how are you gonna take me and Dave?” Dirk asked.

 

Jake then suddenly went underwater and placed his arm under Dirk’s tail and his shoulders, carrying up bridal style.

 

“GAH, JAKE!”

 

Jake then started walking and stepped onto the platform, carrying Dirk without any trouble.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

...

...

...

 

“Ok, you take Dave to the pool, I’m taking Dirk to my room,” Jake said as he parked his car in the driveway.

 

“Why are you taking me to there?” Dirk asked.

 

“Because you’re gonna be the one to turn human.” Dave said.

 

Dirk and Dave were sitting in the back seats, their butts in coolers filled with water, so while Dirk is gonna be really upset Jake and Jade are probably not gonna take him as seriously as they should.

 

“No.”

 

“Too bad, that option is gonna expire in 20 minutes,” Dave said.

 

“Then you take it-“

 

“Gogdammit Dirk why can’t you just stop being a selfless asshole and just take the fucking potion!?”

 

“Excuse me?” Someone said outside the car, everyone turning their heads to see Nanna. “Is everyone safe?”

 

“We’re fine Nanna, I’m just trying to convince my stubborn ass brother to take the human potion.”

 

“Holy shit,” Dirk said as he saw Nanna, his jaw opened and his eyes wide. “you’re really old.”

 

Nanna rolled her eyes. “I know, I know, you’ve never seen an old person before. Now, I’m assuming you two need a pool?”

 

...

...

...

 

Jade walked casually around the house to the pool as she carried Dave effortlessly, kick opening the gate entrance.

 

“So, do you normally take guys to your pool bridal style?” Dave asked, his arms around around Jade’s shoulders.

 

Jade snickered as she kicked the gate closed behind her.

 

“Nope, you’re the first,”

 

“Wow, I feel so special, woo me with more of your firsts,”

 

“Pfft, Dave,” Jade said, laughing as she walked to the pool’s stairway, walking down them and sitting down on the, gently placing Dave next to her.

 

Dave’s face was indescribable, then he looked confused, and then disappointed, a mix of emotions were racing a mile a minute with Dave.

 

“You ok?”

 

“This water feels weird as fuck Harley.”

 

“Well, yeah, it’s chemically engineered to be clean,”

 

“Gross,” Dave said, looking disgusted.

 

“Would it make you happy if we filled the pool with salt water?”

 

“Yes, please. If I’m gonna be stuck here for who knows how long then I might as well be comfortable.”

 

“Ok,” Jade said, smiling as she patted Dave’s head.

 

“You think Jake is gonna be able to convince Dirk?”

 

“I sure hope so, we only have 15 minutes left now.” Jade said, looking at her phone.

 

“I’m scared, Harley,”

 

“You wanna watch more sea movies?” Jade asked as she put an arm around Dave’s shoulders,

 

Dave nodded, and Jade got out her phone, pulling up The Little Mermaid as they waited.

 

...

...

...

 

“I’m not taking that potion, Jake.” Dirk said as he crossed his arms, laying on top of Jake’s bed.

 

“Stop being selfish,” Jake said, crossing his arms as she stood by the side of the bed, holding the fuchsia potion.

 

The potion itself was dulling every minute Dirk wasn’t taking it.

 

“I’m not being selfish, I didn’t spend sweeps for Dave to get that potion for nothing, he needs to-“

 

“Dirk, we didn’t risk three days for you to escape to not have you take this potion! Why can’t you understand!?”

 

“BECAUSE I DONT WANT TO BE SELFISH, I GOT MY DAD KILLED FOR THAT!” Dirk said, finally snapping.

 

Jake stayed silent as he sat down on the edge of the bed, listening to Dirk.

 

“I wanted to become a swordsman, and in order to do official become that I had to go to school. My dad said I wasn’t allowed to because of my blood, but I ran away. The school called up the Condesce. She took me and tracked down my dad, and that’s when she ordered me to kill him. If I wasn’t such a selfish kid he would’ve been alive.”

 

“Dirk, they would’ve killed him anyway, that law-“

 

“He was hiding. He was the only low blooded adult that survived the culling. It was my fault he died, Jake,” Dirk said, tears forming in his eyes. “I can’t let Dave die, and I can’t be selfish and take this potion.”

 

“Dirk...” Jake then scooted Dirk over and hugged him closely.

 

Dirk hugged Jake back tightly, silently crying in Jake’s shoulder as Jake comfortingly patted his back.

 

“You’re not being selfish, and Dave is going to be fine, we’ll figure this out.” Jake said, gently cradling Dirk.

 

“If this wasn’t time sensitive I’d give you more time.”

 

Dirk stayed silent as he listened to Jake.

 

“You know, I’m kinda glad with how this turned out.”

 

Didk pulled away, his face suggesting his was very confused by Jake’s statement.

 

“Because now you have a chance. Dirk, you’ve done so much for Dave, for Jade, for me. And we all agree you deserve this chance. You were ready to sacrifice yourself for Dave to even have a chance to survive in the human world in a heartbeat, you risked your life for those potions, and...”

 

Jake slowly breathed in, his heart beating a hundred miles a minute, so loudly he was sure Dirk could’ve heard it.

 

“And... if anyone’s being selfish, it’s me.”

 

“Why’s that?” Dirk asked.

 

“I... I think I’m falling for you, Dirk Strider.”

 

Dirk stayed silent as he studied Jake’s face.

 

“And I don’t want to lose you like that again, Dirk. I want you to thrive, and be happy and safe, to be able to live without worrying about what time you’re going to die, to love without worry about dying and living with me-”

 

Dirk then pulled on Jake’s collar shirt and his lips collided with Jake’s.

 

Jake was very surprised before he kissed Dirk back, his hands on Dirk’s neck and in his hair while Dirk’s hands were on Jake’s shoulders and also in his hair.

 

For a second it was like everything froze, there was no sound, no movement, only them.

 

Then, Dirk pulled away as he looked at the potion.

 

“How much time do I have?”

 

Jake looked down at his phone.

 

“One minute.”

 

Dirk then hesitantly took the bottle and pondered.

 

As the seconds passed it seemed like the potion is getting darker and darker.

 

Dirk them opened the bottle and looked at Jake, and said three words.

 

“Wish me luck.”

 

He then drank the potion whole, and midnight struck.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for coming on this journey, this is the first fanfic I have ever finished and hopefully it won’t be the last. I started writing Seadwllers in my google docs and decided to write the whole thing, since my other ways of writing fanfics never worked out. It took me about 9 or 10 months to finish weighting the whole thing, and now that it’s finished... it’s like a bittersweet feeling. I finally reached my goal of finishing this fanfic and uploading it on AO3, but now I finished what I loved doing. Or did I~? There’ll be a little something tomorrow, keep an eye out~


	24. Preview for Sequel, Landwellers: A Davejade Fanfic

Jade went to the pool as she saw the sleeping Dave at the bottom of the pool, and she sighed.

 

“He hasn’t fixed his sleeping schedule,” Jade said, hearing her dog Bec walk next to her.

 

Becquerel, also known as Bec, was her giant white dog, an omnipoterrier, and her best friend in the whole world.

 

She and Bec looked at each other, and then back at Dave.

 

“You think we should wake him up?” Jade asked, and Bec wagged his tail excitedly.

 

“Ok, go down there and wake him up!” Jade said, and Bec jumped into the water.

 

As Jade began to walk away she heard a “DAMN YOU HARLEY!” in the background, and she giggled.

 

“Cya later Strider!” She called out as she got to the driveway to see the car.

 

“I REALLY HOPE NOT- DAMMIT BEC STOP TAKING MY SHADES!”

 

As Jade heard Dave’s consistent pleds and curses she got to the car. It was a Cadillac, black colored, and that’s all Jade really knew about cars, since she lived on a fricking island.

 

It was owned by Nanna before... before Jake got ownership.

 

_ Poor Nanna... _

 

“Jadey, you coming in?” Jake asked as he put down his side window.

 

“O-oh, yeah! Sorry,” Jade said as she quickly walked to the other side of the car and took the front seat next to Jake.

 

“You ok?” Jake asked as he started to drive out of the driveway.

 

“Yeah, I’m just a little nervous about school is all!” Jade said, smiling happily.

 

“Jadey, that’s a fake smile, are you thinking about Nanna?”

 

“... maybe.”

 

“We’ll visit her after school.”

 

Jade sighed, nodding. “Ok.”


	25. 25 Facts About Seadwellers!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look at the end~

  1. **Seadwellers was originally called The People Under The Water**



 

I couldn’t come up with a good title in the beginning, and I couldn’t work properly without having a semi-temporary title, so I decided to call it The People Under The Water as a semi-possibly-not-semi-temporary title, and then Seadwellers came to mind, and I thought it was perfect, but I still loved TPUTW so it’s the series name and a reference by Nanna.

 

  1. **It was supposed to be a stand alone**



 

While there is a sequel to Seadwellers, I wanted it to be a stand alone so that if people didn’t like the ship for the next story they wouldn't have to read it. Jake and Dirk’s story is finished, even though the fic ended on a cliff hanger. The next story will have them in it, but with Dirk as a human and Dirk and Jake as a couple, but they won’t be the focus.

 

(I have thought about making a cute little 5 chapter fic of their dates and stuff while you guys wait for the sequel~)

 

  1. **It took 6-8 months to finish writing tye whole fanfic**



 

My dearest friend Naema (who loves Seadwellers way too much lol) asked me how I wrote these chapters so fast, the secret is, I didn’t :P. I was writing Seadwellers for months on my own in Google Docs, I was writing in school and at home, it was basically a workout for my index fingers and thumbs lol. After I finished I was so happy, I took a few weeks off, wrote other things, edited the best I could, and released it in weekly quantities.

 

  1. **There was a sex scene cut out**



 

I alluded that Jake had sex with Dirk on the beach, and have wrote out a sex scene, but then I decided to not include it because 1. It felt too rushed 2. I wasn’t very comfortable writing in sex at the time, and 3. It wasn’t necessary. Believe me, I wanted to keep in the sex, but it just didn’t feel right. Them making out was already super sensual for me lol.

 

  1. **It was gonna be a trilogy**



 

Whaaaat? I planned out a third book?? Well, I decided to not put it in due to, well, not fitting in the idea I had for the ‘canon’ series, so it bumped back to a duology, however instead of a third book I decided to write two novellas, so look out for those~

 

  1. **Jane wasn’t well written in because I was too focused on the gay**



 

I really wanted to write about Dirk and Jake, so much to the point that I kinda forgot to have Jane in as a possible love interest for Jake. In the end, I think how she came out was ok, but I definitely want to improve her character in the sequel.

 

  1. **There was supposed to be a missing chapter**



 

Archives On Our Own didn’t allow me to skip a number in chapters, and it kinda made me mess up my chapter numbers, so while I had to redo them all, I also had to ditch the plan for the missing chapter.

 

  1. **There was plans for adding in drawings for this story**



 

AO3 was surprisingly hard at putting in pictures, to the point where I had to ditch that plan :/ hopefully I can figure something out.

 

  1. **Jake’s weird words at the beginning of the story was supposedly ‘British slang’, but I just used them to make Jake sound weird, and he loses it quickly, symbolizing how he really moved on. I’m actually not sure if they’re used seriously or not, I should go and see AA, Naema halp**



 

Such great writing, clap and a half, do the hoki poki, ITS JUST ME AND YOU FOR NOWWWW #2018

 

I’m so sorry.

 

  1. **I was inspired to write this by Closeted_Calliope!**



 

I really, really loved her fic, I shall link it, https://archiveofourown.org/works/5421770/chapters/12527171#comments, and it made me wanna do a merstuck take on Dirkjake! I wouldn’t have thought of this story idea if it wasn’t for this lovely lady, so give her lots of love and support!

 

  1. **I was worried if I’d get in trouble for taking Closeted_Calliope’s idea**



 

I was scared to release this, mostly cause I didn’t know if this was copying or taking inspiration, but I was helped by thinking to myself, what exactly is the same? Mermaid and Dirkjake, and possibility for Davejade. Besides that, everything else was different. Her story really inspired me, hence why I keel crediting her as such lol.

 

  1. **I’m thinking about doing an audiobook style for this fanfic**



 

You heard me ;)

 

**13: I thought about selling Seadweller stuff on my Redbubble**

 

Not sure if I still want to do it, maybe I’ll attempt at it when I finish the sequel lol.

 

**14: It wasn’t intended to come out in Mermay**

 

It was completely accidental, I just happened to finish it on that month where I found out about Mermay, so I decided to tag is as mermay, since it did come oht in that month ^^

 

  1. **Jake masturbates**



 

Jake: i dO NOT!

 

Nanna: YOU DO!

 

Jade: IT’S NORMAL!

 

Dirk: I saw you do it all the time.

 

Me: That’s too much information, I’m sorry yall

 

  1. **Dirk was planned on having a Texan accent**



 

Obviously that didn’t fit in with how he was raised, at all, so that way cut out

 

**17: Jake, Jade and John are all a quarter Venezuelan**

 

Diversity, amirite?

 

**18: Dirk and Dave are albinos**

 

It explains so much tbh

 

**19: Grandpa wasn’t ever gonna be in Seadwellers, just because Jake didn’t know him**

 

I decided to have him join in the last minutes of his life

 

**20: Grandpa and Nanna stayed on the phone until Grandpa died, and Grandma set up a burial for him by having people come to his island and bury him**

 

She knew him best, he wouldn’t have cared if his body was buried or not, but she cared about how their kids would feel about it, so she did everything herself.

 

**21: Grandpa and Nanna met in the late 50s and Grandpa had an older brother who died in WWII**

 

Grandpa goes through a lot of shit.

 

**22: Jade is based off of the author, TKAM**

 

It’s true folks

 

**23: Kankri and Cronus was gonna be the third book in the trilogy**

 

It’s now a novella lol

 

**24: They are a ship**

 

I didn’t write them in too much because they didn’t have too much purpose in Seadwellers, but they are pretty important in the next fics~

 

**25: Dirk and Jake have their happily ever after**

  
  
  


...

  
  
  


Dirk and Jake laid on the blanket on the sand, snuggled into each other as the sun went down.

 

“Adjusting to your legs well, I hope?” Jake asked, the waves splashing around.

 

“Yeah. For some reason I thought it would hurt.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. Jade showed the original story for The Little Mermaid, she apparently felt like she was stepping on glass every time she took a step.”

 

Jake laughed, pressing his forehead against Dirk’s shoulder. “Silly.”

 

“No, you are.”

 

“That explains so much, actually,” Jake said, laughing as he looked up at Dirk.

 

“Shuuuut uuup,” Dirk said, covering his eyes with one hand as Jake sat up and continued laughing.

 

“I’m sorry! I can’t help it!” Jake said, covering his mouth to force him to stop laughing.

 

Dirk looked so not amused, but Jake knew he was enjoying himself.

 

“God, come here,” Dirk said, wrapping an arm around Jake’s waist.

 

“Wait wah-“

 

Dirk pulled Jake on top of him, full on straddling him.

 

“Dirk!”

 

“Whaaat?” Dirk asked, smirking.

 

“Why do you like this!?”

 

“You’re my shade, the sun is too powerful.”

 

“... you’re wearing sunglasses...”

 

“... shut up and kiss me, English,”

 

Jake chuckled and leaned down, kissing Dirk happily and deeply as Dirk kissed back, rubbing his hands on Jake’s back.

 

“I love you,” Jake said in between kisses.

 

“Say what?” Dirk asked, looking at Jake.

 

“I... love you.”

 

“Took you long enough,” Dirk said, smiling widely.

 

“Oh, shut up you dumb-“

 

Jake was pulled back down and was kissed by Dirk, and Jake kissed back, not even fighting to argue again.

 

His heart was heavy with content and pure love, along with Dirk’s, and they both spent their lives together, walking the same path with sand covered feet, enjoying their piece of a human eternity.

 

They also jerked off together, so that was pretty cool too.

 

The End~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ll see you all next time~

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Thanks so much for reading the first chapter of my gay merstuck fanfiction! I must have a big thanks for my friends who’ve supported me so much throughout this whole process of writing Seadwellers, Naema, Lady Phoenix, Jandiqar, Barrudi, The Subscriber, and literally anyone who didn’t say this was dumb af! XD
> 
> I must also thank the people who’ve inspired me to write this, Closeted_Calliope and Ikimaru! ^^
> 
> I hope whoever reads this and enjoys it and wants to read more! If now, that’s ok! ^^


End file.
